Wait Times for Chips Hit Record 18 Weeks as Shortage Deepens
- Research shows lead times to fill orders extend further in May
- Slight progress seen in meeting demand for some components
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
Chip-starved industries from automakers to consumer electronics will need to wait a bit longer for components, as delays in filling orders continue to get worse.
Chip lead times, the gap between ordering a semiconductor and taking delivery, increased by seven days to 18 weeks in May from the previous month, an indication that chipmakers’ struggles to keep up with demand are worsening, according to research by Susquehanna Financial Group. That gap, already the longest wait time since the firm began tracking the data in 2017, is now more than four weeks longer than the previous peak in 2018.
Power management chips, semiconductors that regulate the flow of electricity in everything from industrial machinery to smartphones, are a primary reason for the overall increase. Lead times for those chips hit 25.6 weeks, nearly two weeks longer than a month earlier. Still, the crunch is widespread.