The most popular and comprehensive Open Source ECM platform
Let us know more
Hardware Chips: Semiconductors in Short Supply
A sudden spike in demand for computer chips has suddenly fueled chip shortages across the semiconductor industry. Semiconductors for the automotive industry is being hit especially hard.
The demand is being driven by the rollout of 5G technologies, rising demand for consumer electronics during the pandemic, increased cloud computing, and automobile makers that are significantly increasing their use of chips in automotive design.
Mike Hogan, senior vice president at chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries, said that “the long and short of it is, demand is up about 50%. And there’s no asset-intensive industry like ours that has 50% capacity lying around.”
Risto Puhakka, president of VLSIresearch, said that “in the whole semiconductor industry there is very little [spare] capacity right now—everything is doing well. We’re coming off a record investment year, and the demand continues to grow.”
Matt Bryson, executive vice president at Wedbush Securities, said that “higher content requirements for 5G (both for parts requiring leading-edge manufacturing like modems and ICs made on lagging nodes like power management ICs) has combined with increased phone shipments, higher PC demand, greater peripherals builds, etc, all of which have increased the load on foundry. Autos are in the same boat.”
The auto industry is being hit by this especially hard. The chip shortage could affect and delay as many as 672,000 light vehicles being produced in the first quarter. The disruption could extend into the third quarter, according to IHS Markit.
The shortage has impacted Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co, Subaru Corp, Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and other car makers.
