TSMC Says a Shortage of Commodity Chips Is Disrupting Trillion-Dollar Industries

Modern machines use a large number of chips to achieve advanced functions. Not surprising as today almost every type of device uses electronic components, especially logic chips. But there is a problem because a shortage of commodity chips that cost every dollar or cent could prevent shipments of $50,000 cars or his $150 million lithography scanners. .

The global automotive manufacturing industry will generate $2.86 trillion in revenue in 2021, according to StatistaThere are hundreds of chips in every car today, and that number is expected to rise to over 1,500 in the next few years as vehicles become more automated. However, this means that the growing automotive industry will rely more heavily on chip supplies and the semiconductor industry than it does today. So they have to take their chip supply more seriously than ever before.

Automakers aren’t the only manufacturers suffering from chip supply shortages. Lithography used to manufacture chips Even his ASML, the world’s largest manufacturer of his scanners, is suffering from chip shortages.

TSMC CEO CC Wei said at an event in China, “When automakers once told me there was a shortage of semiconductors, they said, ‘Why can’t they understand the importance of chips? I thought, ‘Is it true?'” he said. New Kerala“But then they told me that TSMC’s own equipment supplier was having problems with deliveries, partly because of parts and chip shortages.”

The market for semiconductor manufacturing equipment is also huge and multifaceted. If TSMC doesn’t get his ASML extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanner or Applied Materials deposition tools on time, his massive $20 billion+ fab will sit idle. Ultimately, supply his chain management will be even more important tomorrow than it is today, as other suppliers of fab tools and his TSMC customers will suffer.

Snowballing demand for semiconductors generally leads to higher prices in the end, as companies like TSMC have to build new capacity. As a result, the price of the actual goods also increases. On the other hand, logistics will become more and more complex, which will also affect prices. Overall, electronics will not only become more sophisticated in the next few years, but also more expensive, he warned the TSMC executive.

“The era of efficient, globalized supply systems is over,” reports Wei. bloomberg“Costs are rising rapidly, including inflation.”