Computer

The chip industry on the verge of collapse: 6 months of waiting!

We always talk about the most cutting-edge, the TOP within the world of hardware and with this we get a false idea that these chips dominate the world and… It is not really like that, at least to a great extent. The industry sees such a high volume and so varied that these processors and graphics chips are only a very small part of the cake, while the bulk plays in another league with other conditions and that is precisely the problem.

Auxiliary semiconductors and their importance

Forget the die or dies of your CPU or GPU, forget the SoC of your mobile and look around what is near them. What we will see are the so-called auxiliary chips or auxiliary semiconductors by the industry, a series of small components that are essential for the large players in the industry to function and perform their tasks in a timely manner.

Well, according to the latest report from Susquehannaa financial analyst firm specializing in the giants of the semiconductor industry and their distributors, it is stated that after two months of improvement in delivery times the average value has now increased two days in this last month.

artificial intelligence chip

Or put another way, what has been gained in time up to now has been lost and we return to a negative balance for the industry. What has happened to make us go back in time?

A series of unprecedented catastrophes

The truth is that in this 2022 there have been a series of unusual conditions at the same time and that we all know. Firstly, the earthquake in Japan that left so much disaster in its wake, secondly, the war in Ukraine with everything we have been seeing since it began, and thirdly, the two blockades and closures of China due to the pandemic and the energy crisis. .

To be specific, the firm says that in the fall of 2020 the lead time for auxiliary semiconductors was 13.6 weeks, while in March this year it increased to no less than 26.6 weeks. These figures are the highest ever recorded since these data are taken into account, but the data continues with examples such as those of broadcomwhich have had to increase delivery times to 30 weeks.

The good news is that the electronics industry has not been so affected, since a slight reduction in waiting times is announced for passive components such as capacitors, resistors or high-efficiency SMDs.

silicon chip

On the other side of the coin, there are components that are directly out of stock, bringing the semiconductor industry to the brink of collapse in certain key components of the market, since it is estimated that some microcontroller units have delivery times of up to 50 weeks, that is to say, almost a year of delay if the order is placed today.

Therefore, as much as the high-performance chip supply chain decreases its lead times, having ancillary semiconductors ramp up the cadence is not going to help end the nightmare crisis we are in. Moreover, in some specific sectors there is at the edge of collapse literally for not being able to manufacture components in full.

An example is the car industry, where many are delivered without electronic components that they should have so that the new owners can enjoy the vehicle without waiting, later and when the systems are ready, install them afterwards.

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