A handful of companies including chipmakers Micron and AMD are signalling an easing in the two-year long global shortage of semiconductor chips as rising inflation and cooling economies squeeze consumer and corporate spending.
Through the pandemic, chipmakers were overwhelmed trying to meet big orders from makers of smartphones and personal computers that saw a surge in demand from people working from home. The resulting chip shortage led companies, including automakers, to slash production, delay shipments and pay steep premiums for key chips.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc flagged last month a slowdown in PC sales this year after two years of strong demand. Ranjit Atwal, senior director analyst at Gartner, said falling smartphone and PC sales will result in the chip shortage easing this year. No. 1 memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics, in an attempt to check an inventory glut, temporarily halted new procurement orders and asked some suppliers to delay or cut shipments of components for several weeks, Nikkei said last month.