German semiconductor maker Infineon warned today that a supply bottleneck in chips could last until 2022, dealing a blow to the auto manufacturing industry.
We expect the supply-demand imbalance to continue for several quarters and there is a risk that it could drag on until 2022,” Infineon CEO Reinhard Ploss said at a video press conference, AFP reported.
He added that supply “bottlenecks” are a particular concern for Infineon in areas where the company does not produce its own chips but buys them from foundries to put microcontrollers in cars or smart devices.
Pross said that the recent boom in electric vehicles has driven up demand, and that the automotive industry is still suffering from “serious delivery problems”.
Infineon is profiting from the booming semiconductor market in early 2021; its new wafer fab in Austria is also scheduled to be completed later this year.
The surge in demand for electronic devices during the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak benefited wafer manufacturers, but led to a supply crunch for semiconductors in the automotive industry, where wafers are a key component for modern cars.
With the shortage of wafers, parts were temporarily unavailable, and automotive companies had to temporarily idle their production lines.
According to Infineon marketing director Helmut Gassel, this shortage will affect the production of about 2.5 million vehicles in the first quarter of 2021.
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