Chip shortage and new fab plans continue to be hot topics this week, while there is no shortage of AI news – with Google announcing the next generation of TPUs, and Edge Impulse expressing an interesting concept about machine learning bound to replace code writing in algorithm design.
Chip lead times reach 17 weeks
According to a research by Susquehanna Financial Group, quoted by Bloomberg, chip lead times – the gap between order and delivery – increased to 17 weeks in April. That is the longest wait since the firm began tracking the data in 2017. Specific product categories reported even longer lead times: 23.7 weeks in April for power management chips, about four weeks more than a month earlier; industrial microcontrollers also showed a worsened situation, with order lead times extended by three weeks. Automotive chip supply continues to be a pain point, with NXP reportedly having lead times of more than 22 weeks now – up from around 12 weeks late last year – and STMicroelectronics to more than 28 weeks. This situation is raising concerns of ‘panic ordering’ that may lead to market distortions in the future.
