What you need to know
- Apple supplier TSMC says a global chip shortage could last until 2022.
- The company makes Apple's A-series chips for iPhone, and iPad, as well as Apple silicon.
- Reports recently have confirmed that the shortage is finally beginning to impact the supply of Apple products.
Apple's supplier TSMC, maker of its A-series chips for iPhone and iPad as well as Apple silicon, has told investors a global chip shortage could last until 2022.
Speaking to investors Thursday, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei made the stark prediction. From Nikkei Asia:
The chip shortage that is crippling swaths of global industry could extend into next year, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said on Thursday as the world's biggest contract semiconductor maker unveiled bumper quarterly profits.The warning, from the Taiwanese company at the heart of the global tech supply chain, suggests that the shortages that have rocked automakers and are spreading into consumer electronics will continue to reverberate.
Wei said "we actually see that demand will continue to be high. ... This shortage will continue throughout this year and may be extended into 2022." Some good news, however, is that Wei said "massive overbooking" might help correct some inventories. Apple went unscathed for longer than most as the chip shortage started to take hold, and previous reports have indicated that Apple may have overestimated iPhone supply at the end of last year in anticipation of the silicon squeeze.
As the report notes, the chip shortage is so bad President Biden held a virtual summit Monday with chipmakers and other companies.
Last week the same outlet reported that chip shortages have started to cause delays in the production of Apple's MacBook and iPad, but that the iPhone 13 remains on schedule.
Last year the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought much of Apple's production to a stand still in Asia, causing shortages of Apple products in stores. It is possible that if the chip shortage continues or gets any worse that it may result in increased delivery times or constrained supply at Apple stores and online.
