IC design companies remain cautious about demand for this year's year-end shopping season, given the uncertainty of order visibility, industry sources said, according to DIGITIMES on Aug. 19.

Fabless chipmakers agree that replenishment demand from PC customers is unlikely to pick up significantly until at least 2023, the sources said. Demand for PC-related commodity chips will remain subdued through the fourth quarter of this year.

Whether the upcoming iPhone will spur demand for mobile chips as a whole remains to be seen, the sources said. Sluggish sales of Android smartphones in China during the Double 11 shopping festival also prompted Fabless chip makers to be conservative about sales. In addition, sales of Android phones during this year's 618 online shopping in China were also sluggish.

Meanwhile, sources noted that back-to-school demand has also been disappointing so far. The market for educational PCs and other mass-market electronic devices is becoming increasingly saturated.

According to the sources, whether demand for chips for cell phones, PCs and other consumer electronic devices will pick up in the fourth quarter may not be determined until October. By then the new iPhones will hit store shelves and Chinese channel players will be making purchasing decisions for the upcoming shopping season.

"As momentum in smartphone, PC and consumer end markets rapidly slows, supply chains in related industries will engage in inventory adjustments throughout the second half of 2022," TSMC CEO Chieh-Chih Wei said during a July earnings call, adding that such adjustments are justified after two years of home demand driven by the new crown epidemic.

source from：aijiwei app