In the past few quarters, with the decline of panel prices, the IC unit price has been driven to a relatively low point under the pressure of panel manufacturers, but the wafer foundry price has not been significantly reduced recently, and the foundry price has become stable.

For now, most fabs are still offering small discounts in the form of discounted or free wafers and are not willing to adjust their prices in anticipation of a recovery in demand in the second half of 2023, according to research by TrendForce Consulting. At the same time, since the first quarter of 2023, the room for further price reduction of large panel drive IC is limited, mainly because the wafer foundry price is not easy to return to the pre-pandemic level. The unit price of panel drive IC is expected to be flat in the second quarter of this year, or a slight quarterly decline of about 1~3%.

TrendForce Consulting further said that panel driver IC after a long period of strict control of the amount of film to manage the inventory level, the timing into the second quarter of the IC inventory state tends to be healthy. In 2022, it is very rare to see the peak of driving IC inventory as high as more than half a year, and most products gradually enter the healthy level of about 8-10 weeks. With the price of large-size panels bottomed out at the end of 2022, panel demand is expected to increase quarter by quarter in 2023, especially in the traditional peak season of the third quarter. With the increasing demand for panels, panel driver IC will be further driven to advance shipment.

From the perspective of application demand, the price of TV panel is bouncing back from the bottom. The brand is actively stocking up for China's 618 promotion and Amazon Prime Day in North America. The types and brands of high-order pen motors are gradually replenishing the panel inventory demand; Esports LCD monitor panel because the domestic Internet cafes also began to update the equipment demand, you can see the panel demand is quarter by quarter. From the wafer foundry end observation, TrendForce Consulting also observed that the driver IC chip volume is increasing, but at present, both terminal, panel and IC suppliers are more cautious about chip stock than before the epidemic.

Overall, panel drive IC demand is expected to increase quarter by quarter, and prices will also stabilize. However, TrendForce Consulting said that in the case of cautious casting, due to the panel driver IC stocking cycle as long as 2 to 3 months, faced with the traditional peak season of the third quarter, when the demand is pouring in, whether there is enough time to prepare material remains to be seen. Once the stock is not enough to meet, or even the production capacity planning of wafer foundries cannot meet the surging demand for wafer casting, the supply of panel driver IC may be tight again in the short term, which will not rule out affecting the subsequent supply of panel.