Chairman of Chinese leading chip maker CR Micro sees signs of bottoming out in the country's chip market recession

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By Li Panpan

(JW Insights) Jun 19 -- China’s semiconductor market has slowed down its decline as of this March, showing signs of bottoming out, said Li Hong, chairman of the country’s leading IDM company China Resources Microelectronics(华润微电子CR Micro) on June 17.

In the past year, the development of China"s semiconductor industry has been weaker than that of the world, experiencing a market recession. The global economic downturn, complex geopolitical changes, price cuts, and lowered demand all resulted in the slowdown, said Li.

The periodicity of the semiconductor industry mainly depends on the market supply and demand, and the inventory is the explicit index of supply and demand. The semiconductor industry as a whole has entered the adjustment period since the second half of 2022 and is currently in the stage of active destocking, and the bottom is just at hand.

"From talking with customers and judging our situation, we believe that the semiconductor industry is now close to the bottom, with a relatively low inventory level. We are confident that the market demand will recover in the second half of the year or next year at the latest."

"But it is still very pessimistic in the consumer electronics industry with weak demand. However, chip products are in short supply in emerging fields such as photovoltaics, new energy, and electric vehicles,” added Li.

Emerging applications such as 5G, the Internet of Things, new energy, and AIGC also provide new growth momentum to the semiconductor market. Based on these optimistic prospects, CR Micro is actively expanding its production capacity layout, said Li.

Founded in 2003 and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2020, CR Mirco is headquartered in Wuxi, eastern China’s Jiangsu Province. The company provides power semiconductors and intelligent sensors.