That same month, Samsung Electronics observed that “the business environment deteriorated significantly in the fourth quarter” and forecast “continued weakness in the short-term”, followed by the same timeline for a rebound.
By late last year, it was clear the semiconductor sector was heading into a slump. Three years of runaway demand and tight output was coming to an end, and companies right through the supply chain were suddenly caught with too much inventory as the global economy hit the brakes. Calling the bottom has been tough, and timing the rebound has multi-billiondollar repercussions.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) back in January forecast first-quarter revenue that was below the figure analysts had expected, with CEO CC Wei saying that demand was “softer than we thought three months ago”. He went on to note that the world’s most valuable chipmaker expected “the semiconductor cycle to bottom sometime in first half 2023, and to see a healthy recovery in second half this year”.
