With the sharp increase in the demand for semiconductor equipment, there is a bottleneck in the supply of parts. The delivery time of advanced parts required for semiconductor manufacturing equipment has been more than twice longer than usual. Due to the rising price of raw materials and the shortage of semiconductor equipment, the supply of equipment has entered a vicious circle. According to etnews, the delivery time of core parts has been extended from the usual 2-3 months to more than 6 months.
The delivery time of advanced parts such as the United States, Japan and Germany has also increased significantly. Products facing bottleneck effects include advanced sensors, precision thermometers, MCU for management equipment and power line communication (PLC) equipment. Some components, such as PLC equipment, were delayed for more than 12 months.
A person concerned with semiconductor equipment manufacturing enterprises said: "although orders were placed last year, semiconductor equipment manufacturing enterprises that did not ensure inventory encountered difficulties in producing equipment. With accessories With the extension of delivery time, the delivery date of equipment is also postponed. "
Manufacturers of test equipment imported from the United States tried to buy parts locally, but failed to do so due to insufficient inventory of parts manufacturers. With the rising prices of semiconductor raw materials such as aluminum and steel, semiconductor enterprises have encountered difficulties in ensuring semiconductor parts and casting parts.
The reason for the shortage of semiconductor equipment parts is the surge in demand. As global semiconductor enterprises have invested a lot of money to solve the problem of insufficient semiconductor supply, the orders of semiconductor equipment have also increased significantly. In some cases, the delivery time of equipment that used to take only a few months was more than two years. With the equipment industry rapidly increasing production in response to the surge in demand, the entire parts inventory has been exhausted. The failure of overseas parts manufacturers to significantly improve their production capacity is also one of the reasons why supply exceeds demand. Semiconductor equipment enterprises are sensitive to equipment investment and begin to rapidly expand production capacity; However, parts manufacturers have been slow to respond.
A person concerned in the semiconductor industry said: "with a clean room, semiconductor equipment enterprises can easily improve their production capacity, but parts enterprises need to do a lot to establish new infrastructure. Parts enterprises have a bottleneck because of the heavy burden of large-scale equipment investment."
Domestic semiconductor equipment enterprises, including South Korea, are also facing the problem of delayed supply priorities. In other words, overseas major parts enterprises will first supply to top semiconductor equipment enterprises such as applied semiconductor, ASML, Tel and Lam research. South Korean local semiconductor equipment manufacturers with relatively low sales received less parts.
With the production interruption of manufacturing equipment, the core element of semiconductor production, it is expected that the global semiconductor supply shortage will further worsen. Due to insufficient inventory, the delivery date of semiconductor equipment is delayed, and the equipment investment cycle of semiconductor manufacturing enterprises will inevitably slow down. (checked by / indrich)