Telecom, automobile, electronic goods, defence and many other sectors that are dependent on technology require semiconductors. The ongoing shortage has been of concern for many.
The recent company to join this is Nokia. Nokia President and CEO Pekka Lundmark told CNBC, the ongoing global chip shortage needs to be closely monitored and supply chain visibility is not as good as it used to be. Lundmark stated further that Nokia has not seen the effect of this shortage but he stressed this is real and had to be addressed at the earliest. “The situation is manageable, but this is a matter that requires constant attention.” He added that the medium to long-term visibility on chip supply is an issue.
Nokia chief added that the whole semiconductor industry is actually very busy finding ways to increase capacity.
According to a Reuters report, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said he is seeing improvement in efforts to ease chip shortages that have caused disruptions across several industries. He added that the demand for older chips is easier to respond to. He said this during a virtual forum.
In recent months, the demand for chips soared which was accompanied by panic buying which led to shortage of chips.
Demand has soared for chips in recent months, with panic buying further squeezing capacity and driving up costs of even the cheapest components of nearly all microchips.
“There’s an ability for the market to respond more quickly to some of the older nodes than the newer nodes, so depending on the product, you may be in a position to get some improvement,” he added.
The largest producers of semiconductors are the United States, South Korean and Japan to name a few.
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association report 2019, semiconductors make possible the global trillion dollar electronics industry. Semiconductors were invented in America, and the US still leads the world in cutting-edge manufacturing and design.