When Samsung first started sounding the alarm about a major chip shortage destined to shake the tech industry to its core, we believed it. That is to say, we were expecting things to be bad come the second half of the year. And so they were – or are, if you want to be pedantic.
But now? Now, they're starting to get ugly. It's no longer just Samsung that's quite obviously feeling the weight of the lack of modern silicon. The entire technology industry is very much under duress right now. And lead times have already reached unprecedented highs.
From auto parts to smartphones, every tech and tech-adjacent business is suffering
Even Taiwanese players such as Delta Electronics, Foxlink, and FSP have run out of ideas while begrudgingly extending their lead times by one or two weeks, only to do so again – and again. Right now, the waiting lists for certain electronics such as power supplies and anything based on high-end integrated circuitry are up to six months long.
Samsung's core business might not seem to be impacted so severely, but that's largely because the company hasn't yet shared much details on how its handling the crisis. Behind closed doors, however, its 2021 mobile roadmap has definitely suffered as a result.
Desperate times call for desperate factory repurposing. But nothing Samsung does right now in an attempt to alleviate the situation will likely have immediate effects. So, while the Chinese and Taiwanese tech sectors are planning IC capacity expansions of their own and Samsung keeps reshuffling its consumer electronics plans, the question that remains is just when is this going to end?
