According to a recently report by ETNews, an official from a fabless firm using an 8-inch foundry in Korea said, "Our client has requested an increase in the supply of semiconductors, so we’ve renewed the contract with the foundry supplier at a 50% higher price because apparently the requested quantity cannot be supplied at the previous price."

ETNews reported that some Fabless companies have been notified that foundry prices will increase by 10% in January next year. The price increase is mainly due to the growing demand for analog chips, power semiconductors and display drivers, as well as the long-term shortage of 8-inch foundry production capacity and the limited production capacity of the industry.

An official from a korean foundry company said, "At this point, we cannot accept all clients (fabless) with our current production capacity. As the demand for fabless increases, the overall price of the foundry consignment production market is rising."

ETNews pointed out that because of the large investment, it is not easy to solve the supply shortage by expanding production. Although the idle space can be used to increase production equipment, it is not easy for foundries to purchase due to the soaring price of semiconductor equipment. "At present, even the prices of used 8-inch semiconductor equipment have jumped to the price of new products. Even if a client places an order, it will take more than 12 months for the delivery to be made," said a person in charge of a semiconductor equipment distributor.