Taiwan's IC backend service firms are optimistic that 5G base station chips demand from China will stay strong in the mid to long term despite uncertainty about when the coronavirus outbreak can be contained, according to industry sources.

There are now around five million 4G base stations in China, and a larger number of 5G infrastructure facilities will be needed in the country to fully support high frequency transmissions. By the end of 2020, only 700,000-800,000 5G base stations will be completed in China, indicating that demand for relevant chips solutions will see robust growth in the next few years, the sources said.

Backend houses will face short-term impact of the coronavirus epidemic, with orders from handset and other consumer device segments most likely to be deferred due to weakened consumer demand. But this wouldn't be the case with 5G base station chips, the sources commented.

But since TSMC may utilize part of its capacity in Taiwan to process some orders originally set to be fulfilled by its fabs in China if the outbreak widens, the sources continued, its backend partners ASE and King Yuan Electronics could benefit with higher capacity utilization in Taiwan as a result.

By: DocMemory
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