News from November 25, Beijing time, industry sources said that OLED display driver ICs may be tight in 2022, which will affect smartphone shipments. The supply of OLED display driver IC (DDI) may be tight in 2022, and the shortage of chips may affect the shipment of smart phones.
According to industry sources, OLED display driver ICs may be tight in 2022, which will affect smartphone shipments
According to Digitimes reports, sources pointed out that DDI suppliers in Taiwan, such as Novatek, Himax, Tuntai, and Ruiding, are all strengthening the development and production of OLED DDI, hoping to increase the shipment rate of such chips in 2022. By then, OLED screens are expected to be widely adopted in new smart phones.
Digitimes Research predicts that global mobile phone OLED panel shipments will reach 713 million in 2022, but OLED DDI shipments will only be 650-660 million, obviously in short supply.
In addition, sources said that the actual shortage of OLED DDI for mobile phones in 2022 will depend on the sales results of terminal phones, but as the penetration rate of OLED smartphones steadily rises in the next few years, the long-term shortage is expected to expand.
It is understood that most OLED DDIs are currently manufactured in 12-inch wafer fabs using the 40nm process, and chip manufacturers are actively seeking capacity support from foundry partners. "Novatek is strengthening its cooperation with UMC and Samsung. Himax, Duntech and Ruiding are also competing for more foundry capacity from their partners, while making OLED DDI chips the top priority for capacity utilization," the source said.
As the 12-inch wafer fab will launch many additional 28/22nm capacity in 2023, some industry observers believe that DDI manufacturers can switch from 40nm to 28/22nm production to ease the tight supply of OLED DDI. But some people believe that many other applications will rely on new capacity, which will lead to fierce competition among chip manufacturers.
