Chip crisis could last until 2023

Analysts say the supply of semiconductors will remain tight for a few more years.

Today, chips are in everything from game consoles and toothbrushes to washing machines and alarm clocks. However, the world is facing a serious chip crisis, showing no signs of stopping. Glenn O’Donnell, vice president of research at consulting firm Forrester, believes the situation will last until 2023 due to high demand and continued supply stress. He forecast personal computer demand will decline slightly next year, while data centers will buy more chips. According to him, combined with the growth in cloud computing and mining, the demand for chips is going to explode. According to Patrick Armstrong, IT director of Plurimi Investment Managers, the chip crisis could last 18 months. There are too many products that require chips such as cars, phones, IoT… All connected to the Internet. The car industry is affected more than any other sector. Earlier this month, the world’s largest chipmaker TSMC said it could catch up with car demand in June. But Mr. Armstrong said that was too ambitious. Ford, BMW, and Volkswagen all stressed they had production bottlenecks and couldn’t buy enough chips needed to build cars. Research firm Gartner predicts the chip crisis will continue until 2021, not to mention chip prices also increase. Analyst Alan Priestley said the situation could improve for some sectors in the next six months, but there could also be a “chain effect” into 2022. The semiconductor industry is doing everything to increase productivity but need time. In fact, Intel announced to spend $ 20 billion for two new chip factories in Arizona, USA. According to Mr. Priestley, it will take two to three years for these plants to operate but it will meet future demand. Reinhard Ploss, CEO of German chip maker Infineon, said last week that it “clearly takes time” until supply and demand balance. According to Wenzhe Zhao, Credit Suisse’s director of global economics and strategy, the recent chip crisis has encouraged inventory stockpiling in the supply chain, leading to a widening supply-demand gap. Not much can be done to solve the current situation, he said, except to adjust orders, production schedules and prices. Du Lam (According to CNBC)