Bloomberg recently quoted a research report by Susquehanna Financial Group (SIG) that from automakers to consumer electronics, industries with chip shortages will have to wait longer to obtain components because of the extended delay in orders.
The research published by the SIG showed that the overall chip lead time last month was 18 weeks, an increase of 7 days compared to April. This is the longest lead time since SIG started tracking in 2017, and is more than one month longer than the peak in 2018. The extension of the lead time shows that manufacturing is still difficult to keep up with demand.
The report pointed out that the lead time of power management ICs is 25.6 weeks, which is nearly two weeks longer than that in April, while the supply of microcontrollers (MCUs) and analog ICs is improving.
“The data highlights that semiconductors are in a general shortage, because most of the key ICs, such as power management, discrete components, analog ICs, and passive components, have prolonged lead times.” said Chris Rolland, an analyst at SIG.
Although companies such as Broadcom, NXP, Texas Instruments, and STMicroelectronics have extended overall lead times, certain products are beginning to catch up with demand. Rolland said that the delivery time of MCUs has been reduced by more than a week, and the rate of extension of the lead time of analog ICs is also slowing down.