As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Kuala Lumpur decided to impose a national
lockdown from May 12th to June 7th. Cross-county and cross-state travels are
prohibited. Social gatherings, sports events and educational activities are
forbidden to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Malaysia, a key semiconductor provider, is the seventh largest exporter of semiconductor products in the world. In particular, Malaysia is one of the main hubs of packaging and testing for semiconductors, accounting for 13% of the global market. The lockdown may further aggravate the the short supply of chips in the world, and pose an adverse impact on China’s solar PV industry and inverter industry. As a matter of fact, many manufacturers have extended the delivery due to supply issues, and proposed a price increase of 10-15%.
Experts revealed that OCI’s polysilicon production base in Malaysia (with an annual capacity of 30,000 tons) was basically at full production capacity. If the polysilicon produced is not shipped to China in time, it might aggravate the situation of silicon shortage in the solar PV industry, further pushing up the price throughout the industrial chain. According to the statistics from Solarbe consulting, the average transaction price of polysilicon and mono-crystalline silicon has reached ¥168/kg.
