The chip shortage may last longer than feared. A major manufacturer of silicon wafers on which chips are baked cannot take orders until 2026.
Japan’s Sumco Corp has already sold all the 300 mm silicon wafers it can produce through 2026. Wafers are the foundation of microchips. You can take that literally: chips are built on silicon disks. Don’t have wafers? Then you don’t build chips.
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Major producer of wafers for chip makers is booked up until 2026
The company does not offer long-term orders for its 150 mm and 200 mm wafers, but indicates that demand for them is also likely to remain higher den supply in the coming years. In response to the shortage, the price of wafers is also rising. In 2021 it was by 10 percent, but Sumco expects increases to continue until at least 2024.
Complex problem
Despite high demand, the producer cannot expand its production capacity any further this year. The situation illustrates the problems in which the industry finds itself. The chip shortage is not (only) the result of inadequate manufacturing capacity. The entire supply chain is failing. Without the right raw materials, the expensive factories of manufacturers like TSMC cannot produce optimally, and the global shortage remains unresolved.