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Home > Embedded Events > Infineon News: Price-Drop of SAK MCU and What Causes it

Infineon News: Price-Drop of SAK MCU and What Causes it

Date: 18-10-2022 ClickCount: 477

The price of Infineon's SAK 32-bit automotive MCU, which soared in the first half of the year, has finally dropped recently, and there is a trend of getting lower and lower.

 

The reduced-price SAK 32-bit automotive MCU is used in automotive chassis, safety, power, etc., and is an area that ordinary MCUs cannot easily replace. The survey found that Infineon's SAK automotive MCUs have shipped a lot, especially the TC2XX series, with relatively few transactions. Why is this?

 

Ⅰ. Price Drop of SAK MCU At Present

 

SAK-TC233LP-32F200N AC, quoted in June and July, dropped from about $2,500 to about $1,500, and now stands at $1,000, with almost no transactions. According to the price trend of the third-party trading platform, the price of SAK-TC233LP-32F200N AC dropped from $800 in September last year to $350 in January-April this year, and then skyrocketed to more than $2,000 in June, and has been dropping to below $1,000 at around $800 in the months since then.

 

SAK-TC234LP-32F200N AC, which was quoted as high as $3150 on January 20 this year, has dropped to $980 by the end of September. Third-party data shows that it rose from about $2,700 last August all the way to more than $4,000 in April-June this year, and has since dropped in price to about $2,600 at the end of September.

 

SAK-TC275T-64F200N DC, from about 1,500 yuan in September last year, down to about 450 yuan in January-April this year, and then surged to more than 2,000 yuan in June this year, and then back to about 1,500 yuan in July-September thereafter.

 

The speed of price reduction of the above representative models is not fast, even to a high price that is on par with last year, a phenomenon described by friends in the market as "the last stubbornness before a significant price reduction".

 

In addition, we reported in April this year, SAK-TC277TP-64F200N DC, dozens of price speculation to three or four thousand, and now the price dips to 1500 yuan or less, while SAK-TC265D-40F200W BB/BC had risen to more than 6000 yuan, the August offer has been to about 2800 yuan. Whether at high or low prices, they are difficult to deal with and are losing ground in the spot market.

 

Many of Infineon's 32-bit automotive MCUs are dropping in price, they had peaked in the first half of the year, and their standing price was no more than $100. Although the current price is still more than 10 times the norm price, the water level is high, but the offer record stays a month or two ago, the actual transaction price is unknown, coupled with few transactions, the price is expected to drop in the next few months.

 

Most SAK MCU shortage eases, but a few models are still rising in price, such as the recently very hot Infineon SAK-TC387QP-160F300S AE quoted at the beginning of the month at more than $3,000, SAL-TC299TP-128F300N BC quoted last week also more than $3,000, with little stock.

 

Infineon TriCore™ microcontroller product family is used in automotive chassis/safety, powertrain, advanced assisted driving/autonomous driving, etc. The target applications of the above represented models are exactly the automotive chassis and safety and power fields.

 

Ⅱ. Is There No Shortage of SAK MCUs?

 

Infineon is best known for its AURIX™ TC3XX and TC2XX for automotive chassis applications in recent years, and it is said that one out of every two new cars produced in the market is equipped with Infineon's TriCore™ microcontroller products.

 

To see an Audi luxury SUV using MCU in power domain, chassis and safety domain, IHS has made a breakdown of the MCU used in its sub-domains. 2 Infineon MCUs are used in power domain; 4 Renesas MCUs, 4 NXP MCUs, 2 Microchip MCUs, 1 TI MCU and 1 Infineon MCU are used in chassis and safety domain.

audi sourcing 38 mcus on luxury suvs from 7 suppliers

Automotive chassis and safety and power cover a number of segment functions:

 

1. Chassis and safety including airbag ECU, satellite airbag, anti-theft ECU, electronic parking brake ECU, electronic stability control ECU, fuse and relay box, steering ECU, suspension ECU.

 

2. The powertrain system includes engine ECU, fuel pump ECU.

 

Note: ECU (Electronic Control Unit) is an automotive electronic control unit, which is the "computer" that controls the functions of the car, MCU is one of the components, and there is at least one MCU in each ECU.

 

The world's mainstream automotive MCU manufacturers, Renesas, Infineon, NXP, ST, TI, Microchip, the six occupy more than 90% of the market share, of which 32-bit automotive MCU and a step up, the main suppliers are Renesas, NXP, Infineon and ST four. Automotive MCU supply in the visible time does show signs of partial relief, the five major automotive chip makers in the second quarter of this year financial reports on the shortage of automotive chips have different views:.

 

  • Infineon - gradually alleviate the shortage in 2022.
  • NXP - demand will still exceed supply in the third quarter of 2022
  • Renesas - inventory to return to planned levels by the end of the second quarter of 2022
  • TI - inventories still below expected levels.
  • ST - capacity sold out in 2023.

 

2.1 Why There is No Shortage of SAK MCUs

 

a. First of all, the original factory or agent arrived in large quantities to make up for the previous shortage, there is no shortage. automotive MCU from the original factory and agent end arrived in August, and it is said that in October there will be a large number of arrivals, coupled with the market price defeat of the market, the spot market lost opportunities.

 

b. Secondly, there is the increase in inventory levels. Recent media reports, the world's top four automotive chip makers - Renesas, Infineon, NXP, ST inventory has been restored to the level before the new crown epidemic, is expected to contribute to the car manufacturers to resume production (to fill the gap previously forced to cut production due to chip shortages).

 

These four automotive chip makers had an average inventory of 3.9 months in April-June 2020, while the average inventory cycle was then reduced to 2.85 months in January-March 2021 due to the global chip shortage. During this year's April-June period, the average inventory turnover months of the four automotive chip makers is 3.48 months, which is basically the same as the annual average in 2019 (3.51 months).

 

c. Some brands of automotive MCU in the market also showed a downward trend. 32-bit MCU SPC5606BF1MLQ6 of NXP for automotive body electronics, battery management system (BMS), the offer has been reduced from more than 1,000 yuan in November last year all the way down to more than 80 yuan at the end of September this year.

 

According to quiksol, Renesas September most MCU models are still in the state of sub-stock, the recent demand is mostly concentrated in the R5F5, R5S7, R7S7 and other series, due to the gradual easing of the original production capacity, the factory side has also arrived, coupled with the factory to throw goods out, in terms of stocking needs to be more cautious.

 

Ⅲ. How Do the Automotive Chips Perform in the Future?

 

Future usage of chips for an electric vehicle may increase from the current average of $500 to $1,000, with future high-end models using silicon carbide more likely to exceed $1,500. The easing of the shortage of automotive chips is conducive to restoring production in the industry chain, but the contribution of vehicle production to the current overall growth of automotive chips is limited. Really the main driver of the overall growth of automotive chips, in fact, from the significant increase in chip usage in each new car.

 

Infineon 30% of automotive chip revenue on the trend of electrification and intelligence from the car, its automotive electronics business unit ATV global president Peter Schiefer recently said that the ATV order trend is still strong, some products are also overbooked, 2023 Infineon automotive MCU supply and demand can not be restored to a balanced state.

 

In addition to the skyrocketing demand for automotive usage, soaring chip raw material prices are also one of the hidden concerns. What do you think of the current automotive MCU spot market and do you think the automotive MCU supply has eased?

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