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摘要: AI算力爆發帶動電源管理晶片（PMIC）需求激增，加上8吋晶圓產能吃緊，PMIC迎來漲價潮。台系三雄致新、矽力杰、茂達下半年可望受惠，本文解析個股布局與市場機會。
AI Computing Power Triggers PMIC Price Hikes! Taiwan’s Three Leading Firms Ramp Up Production in H2 – Who Will Emerge as the Biggest Winner?
The semiconductor industry is heating up once again. If you still cling to the old narrative of excess chip inventories and plummeting prices, it is high time you updated your outlook: power management integrated circuits (PMICs) are quietly entering a major price-upcycle, fueled by the explosive surge in AI computing capacity that dominates industry conversations today.
AI has not only created massive supply shortages for NVIDIA’s GPUs but also sent prices of tiny PMICs soaring. Compounding this trend, capacity for mature 8-inch wafer processes is growing increasingly constrained. Supply is tightening sharply while demand skyrockets at an unprecedented pace. The collision of strained supply and red-hot demand has set the stage for widespread PMIC price increases.
This analysis breaks down the driving forces behind the PMIC price rally, explores why investors are bullish on Taiwan’s three top PMIC suppliers – Richtek, Silergy and Aosong – and unpacks their respective competitive strategies.
Price Hike Signals Flash Red! Richtek Chairman Drops Critical Hint
The story begins with recent public remarks by Wu Jinchuan, Chairman of Richtek, a seasoned industry veteran with decades of experience in the PMIC space. He delivered a bombshell statement: “Since early May, multiple industry peers have rolled out official price increase notices.” He added that supply is severely tight amid capacity shortages and extended lead times, and Richtek itself is negotiating price adjustments with its customers.
Words from the chairman of a listed semiconductor firm carry substantial weight. Over the past two years, the consumer electronics market remained sluggish, PMIC prices languished at rock-bottom levels, and all manufacturers struggled with thin margins. Now, even the traditionally conservative Richtek is pushing for price hikes, marking a clear industry inflection point.
The core logic behind this pricing wave is straightforward: the supply-demand balance for mature 8-inch wafer processes has undergone a fundamental reversal. Foundry giants TSMC and Samsung have reallocated 8-inch capacity, limiting global supply expansion. Meanwhile, demand for AI power management ICs, power discrete components, display driver ICs, plus automotive and industrial chips, has surged in tandem, pushing fab utilization rates higher month over month.
The past two years’ predicament of depressed PMIC quotations and low fab utilization is poised for a complete turnaround. The path from cyclical recovery to structural long-term growth has become increasingly clear.
Richtek: Ongoing Price Negotiations; DDR5 as Its Next Major Growth Driver
Starting with Richtek: its consolidated May revenue reached NT$749 million, up 0.41% month-on-month yet down 3.28% year-on-year. While annual revenue growth remains negative on the surface, price hikes have only just launched, and their full margin-boosting effects will materialize in the second half of the year.
Richtek boasts two key growth catalysts. First, successful price negotiations will substantially lift gross profit margins. Second, its well-established lineup of DDR5/LPDDR5 PMICs. As servers and laptops rapidly adopt DDR5 memory, demand for matching power management chips is exploding. Richtek has invested years in this product segment, and mass shipments will directly boost operational performance once volumes ramp up.
Investor optimism for Richtek extends far beyond short-term pricing windfalls, focusing on its long-term structural growth potential. DDR5 penetration is still on an upward trajectory, promising multiple years of robust expansion ahead.
Silergy: AI Vcore Samples Delivered; Dual Growth Engines of Automotive and Data Center
Next is Silergy, the top performer among the three players. It posted May revenue of NT$1.911 billion, down 5.11% month-on-month but surging 31.59% year-on-year. Cumulative revenue for the first five months hit NT$8.784 billion, a 23.21% annual jump – an outstanding growth rate unmatched by most PMIC peers.
Silergy’s stellar performance stems from its targeted product strategy. In recent years, the firm has aggressively expanded its portfolio of high-end power management solutions for data centers, industrial equipment and automotive applications. Notably, Vcore power chips tailored for AI ASICs have completed customer sampling, with mass production timelines steadily advancing. Smooth customer verification will unlock an entirely new revenue growth pillar next year.
Vcore chips are core voltage regulation modules for AI processors, a product category long monopolized by European and American IDM giants. Silergy’s successful sampling demonstrates widely recognized technological competitiveness. Mass production will deliver dramatic jumps in both revenue scale and gross margins.
Additionally, its automotive and data center businesses maintain steady expansion. These two high-barrier, high-margin verticals represent years of steady investment, now entering a fruitful harvest phase.
Aosong: Dual Growth Catalysts of PMICs & Thermal Driver ICs; Revenue Hits 48-Month High
Aosong presents an equally compelling investment case. Its May revenue stood at NT$686 million, rising 0.51% month-on-month and 15.42% year-on-year to mark its highest reading in nearly four years (48 months).
Aosong’s unique advantage lies in its dual positioning: it is not merely a PMIC vendor but also a major supplier of thermal cooling driver ICs riding the AI boom. Power consumption for AI PCs, gaming laptops, servers and industrial hardware continues to climb, driving greater demand for advanced thermal management systems. Aosong’s fan motor driver ICs are perfectly aligned with this market upswing.
Modern AI servers house CPUs and GPUs with power draw often reaching hundreds of watts, requiring upgraded cooling fans in larger quantities and higher specifications – and Aosong’s driver ICs serve as the core control components for these cooling systems. With PMIC prices also on the rise, the dual growth narratives position Aosong as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the current industry upturn.
Financially, Aosong recorded cumulative first-five-month revenue of NT$3.348 billion, up 12.72% year-on-year with stable momentum. Its record May revenue arrived before the traditional peak second-half seasonal demand, signaling further upside ahead.
H2 Market Outlook: Three Core Metrics Institutional Investors Are Tracking
The market broadly anticipates improving operating performance for Taiwan’s three major PMIC suppliers in the second half of the year, supported by three core factors:
- Price hike effects kick in: Wafer foundries have already raised quoting prices, strengthening PMIC makers’ pricing power. Richtek’s lead on price negotiations will prompt competitors to follow suit, driving meaningful gross margin improvements in H2.
- Sustained AI and automotive demand growth: Demand for power management hardware for AI servers and data centers continues expanding. Silergy’s AI Vcore sampling progress and Aosong’s thermal driver IC business both ride the AI megatrend. Meanwhile, vehicle electrification and smart mobility keep lifting PMIC consumption in automotive electronics.
- Inventory destocking nears completion: The past two years’ consumer electronics inventory correction devastated PMIC market sentiment. Inventory levels have now returned to healthy ranges, downstream clients have begun restocking, and order visibility has improved markedly.
Key risks remain, however. The strength of consumer electronics recovery at the end market remains uncertain; a broader global economic slowdown could cap the scale of price increases. While 8-inch wafer capacity is tight today, new fab capacity additions could restore supply-demand balance in the longer run.
Even so, the momentum behind this price rally remains robust, backed by two resilient secular demand drivers – AI and automotive electronics – making a near-term reversal unlikely.
Conclusion: A Remarkable Turnaround for Small Chips Driven by AI Computing Power
The industry’s evolution reveals a striking reversal. Over the past two years, PMICs were heavily tied to the sluggish consumer electronics sector and dragged down by prolonged inventory corrections. Today, two powerful secular forces – exponential AI computing demand and constrained 8-inch wafer capacity – have thrust these mature-process chips back into the investment spotlight.
Richtek captures market attention via price negotiations and its DDR5 growth story; Silergy breaks new growth ground with AI Vcore technology and automotive expansion; Aosong hits multi-year revenue highs on its dual PMIC and thermal driver IC catalysts. Each firm boasts distinct competitive edges, yet all share promising H2 outlooks.
For investors, the PMIC price rally is unlikely to be a short-lived one-to-two-month market swing. Supported by long-term AI and automotive demand, the PMIC sector is transitioning from cyclical recovery to genuine structural growth. Taiwanese suppliers, armed with mature technology, flexible operational strategies and long-standing partnerships with wafer foundries, are assuming increasingly pivotal industry roles.
Do not underestimate these tiny power management chips. In the AI era, power distribution has evolved into a highly profitable business – and this wave of price hikes has arrived at precisely the right moment.
