The global semiconductor shortage is getting worse almost a year into the crisis, with longer wait times, increased hoarding by those who are lucky enough to score the chips and no end in sight, according to a report Friday (Oct. 29) in The Wall Street Journal.
There are several reasons: The demand for the semiconductors never slowed down and shows no signs of doing so anytime soon; the supply chain bottleneck has kept materials from getting to manufacturers who can increase manufacturing; and production issues hampered factories as they tried to keep up.
That’s meant the $464 billion semiconductor industry has seen the crisis spread from its original focus on vehicle manufacturers and home appliance makers to medical equipment and smoking devices as well as electronics, among many others, the WSJ report says.
Wait times for chip deliveries lengthened to an average of 19 weeks this summer and 22 weeks or more this month, with reports of a 25-week wait for power-management components and a 38-week delay for microcontrollers for vehicle manufacturers.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Samsung Electronics Co. and Intel have all announced they will ramp up production with new facilities, but those plants will take years — and billions of dollars — to become reality.
Related: Apple Says Supply Chain Woes Cost $6B in Fiscal Q4; Expects Shortages to Get Worse
Apple Inc. said Thursday (Oct. 28) that the supply chain bottleneck is slowing down production of iPhones and other marquee products, citing a $6 billion hit amidst a record 12-month profit.
CEO Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said during Apple’s quarterly earnings call this week that the COVID disruptions have “improved materially” this month since the company’s Q4 and fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the chip side of the equation has not.
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