According to a report by Expatica, in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Infineon CEO Reinhard Ploss said when the shortfall in chips would end would be dependent on not just demand, but also on how quickly manufacturing capacity can be expanded.
“Construction of new plants and sites where silicon wafers can be processed into chips can take up to two and a half years, even upgrading existing plants would require up to a year,” said Ploss.
“In areas where we have to wait for new Semiconductor manufacturing, the chip shortage may stretch into 2023,” he said.
Ploss estimated that capacity was about 20% short of demand currently in the mobile telephony chip sector, while in other areas, the shortfall is at about 10%.
“But we also need a certain amount of idle capacity, or even better — flexible capacity. Without flexibility, the system would be under constant stress,” said Ploss.