The outlook for quartz components will be postive over the next 1-3 years, thanks to strong demand for automotive electronics, 5G and Wi-Fi 6 applications, according to industry sources.
Quartz component suppliers have already seen order visibility extended encouraging them to expand capacity and also raise prices, said the sources. Kyocera has plans to build additional production lines for quartz components at its factory site in Kagoshima, Japan while Seiko Epson has initiated a price hike for its quartz oscillator crystal, quartz oscillators and other components, added the sources.
Taiwan-based quartz component suppliers including TXC, Siward Crystal, Tai-Saw Technology and Taitien Electronics have all seen clear order visibility for the next 5-6 months, while running their production lines at full capacity, the sources indicated.
Besides, Taiwan-based quartz component makers continue to see their supply of temperature compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO) devices constrained by the impact of a fire-damaged plant operated by Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM), which has led to a 10-20% price hike for their TCXO lineups, the sources said.
Taiwan-based quartz component firms have also raised prices for other products by 5-15% to reflect their tight supply, as well as rising costs of upstream materials, the sources continued. The supply of quartz components in 3225, 2520, 2016 and 1612 sizes has already fallen short of demand, attracting an influx of long-term orders from customers eager to ensure sufficient supplies.
In other news, TXC and Taitien have both reported over 40% on-year increases in revenue for the first quarter of 2021. TXC also posted record-high gross margin and profits for the quarter.
