The chip crisis will last another couple of years according to the Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, that in the course of an interview with the Wall Street Journal predicted a new deterioration for the future for the semiconductor world. If so far there has been talk of a shortage until 2022, Gelsinger pushes the deadline further. The current global crisis is the result of a concomitance of events, which, however, the experts of Capital Group do not consider structural or capable of compromising demand in the long term.
The predictions for the future and the moves of the giants
Global semiconductor sales could double from about $ 450 billion in 2019 to nearly $ 1 trillion by 2030. The world‘s largest semiconductor companies have already planned billion dollar investments in new manufacturing facilities to meet recent demand as well as to manage geopolitical tensions, now that semiconductors are even considered a national security priority.
The undisputed industry leader, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), plans to spend $ 100 billion between now and 2023 on new chip factories, including a large planned site in Arizona. TSMC holds nearly 80 percent of the market share for cutting-edge chip manufacturing and its customers include Apple, Qualcomm and Broadcom. For its part, Intel intends to spend $ 20 billion on two new plants in Arizona while Samsung Electronics is considering building a new manufacturing site in Texas worth $ 17 billion.
Semiconductors have essentially become strategically essential elements, government officials in the United States, China and Europe have some concerns, each for its own valid reasons. The United States fear for the fate of their companies given that, although still unmatched in terms of chip design, the leadership in the manufacturing field has now passed for years to Taiwan and in this case to TSMC. For its part, Europe is worried that it does not have state-of-the-art semiconductor production capacity, a problem amplified during the recent chip shortage, which has damaged major German carmakers. In any case second Mathews Cherian, Portfolio Manager di Capital Group, as semiconductor chips are becoming an integral part of virtually every industry and are essentially the “brains” of many everyday goods, their importance will only increase. “So we just have to carefully follow the developments of the strategic imperatives that guide public policies to understand the extent to which they will affect the efficiency and the ability to execute this sector” concludes Cherian.