The chip shortage continues, causing a major impact on many industries. In an interview, Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, a major American semiconductor company, said that due to the strong market demand for chips, the semiconductor industry is investing heavily, whether it is wafers, certain substrates or back-end process assets. The company is also making progress, and she believes supply will remain tight in the first half of the year, but things will be able to improve in the second half of the year.
In addition, she also said that AMD is currently working with customers on a multi-quarter or multi-year plan to improve the efficiency of the supply chain.
The low inventory of semiconductors reflects strong demand for semiconductors. Quarantine restrictions during the pandemic have boosted demand for personal computers (PCs), data centers, graphics processing units (GPUs) and game consoles. A report from the U.S. Department of Commerce found that demand for chips will surge 17% in 2021 compared to 2019.
According to the report, buyers’ median semiconductor product inventory turns have fallen from 40 days in 2019 to less than 5 days in 2021, with many key products experiencing even shorter inventory turns.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, the leader in the US chip industry, predicts that the tight supply of chips will remain at least until the end of 2023, and the supply situation will not ease until 2025 to 2030. This is expected to improve as Intel and other peers begin bringing more fabs online in the second half of the century.
Infineon executive: Chip shortages expected to end in 2023
Peter Schiefery, head of the automotive division of German semiconductor maker Infineon, said in an interview that he thinks the company will be able to meet market demand in 2023 and that the chip shortage will be resolved in 2023.
Schiefery also said that in order to meet the growing demand, Infineon plans to expand production capacity and will further invest in the company's wafer fab in Austria.
Last year, a global shortage of chips hit the auto industry badly and disrupted auto manufacturing across regions. Major automakers including Volkswagen and Stellantis expect the supply chain chaos to gradually ease this year, but some carmakers still warned that the tight supply of chips in the first half of this year will continue.
Senior executives of several semiconductor companies, including Nvidia, have previously said that for chip demanders from gamers to car manufacturers, it may be difficult to solve chip shortages and supply chain problems in the short term. These bottlenecks lead to rising chip prices and delays in production by manufacturers. .
