The topic of chip supply shortage has been going on for more than a year. During this period, many companies or professionals have made time-based predictions, and most of them have shown relatively optimistic views. However, with the passage of time, the situation has not improved significantly. These predictions seem to deviate from reality, and are more like words to comfort everyone.
Recently, in an interview with IEEE Spectrum, Dr. YJ Mii, senior vice president of research and development at TSMC, said that the fabs currently under construction or about to be sold and constructed will take two to three years before they are completed and put into production. to the easing of chip shortages. This means that the chip shortage will continue until 2024-2025.
Compared with many industry insiders in the past, Mi Yujie's remarks are relatively pessimistic. However, as an executive of the world's largest wafer foundry, his views may be closer to the actual situation. Instead of blaming the Covid-19 pandemic for the chip shortage, as many did, YJ Mii pointed to the fact that chips are now used in almost every product, leading to higher demands on the semiconductor industry, but The reduction in the scale of investment over a period of time has resulted in a lack of sufficient production setups to meet the needs of various industries.
YJ Mii believes that on the bright side, related companies in the semiconductor industry have understood what is happening and are increasing their investment to ensure that production capacity meets demand. YJ Mii admits that even for a company like TSMC with cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing technology, it is very difficult to advance the process node. In the past, it may have been achieved by fine-tuning the original process, but now each generation of process must be based on transistor architecture, materials, Find new ways of crafting and tools.
