According to Nikkei, suppliers of chip manufacturing equipment – Applied Materials, KLA, Lam Research and ASML – warn their customers that they will have to wait up to 18 months for the delivery of the machines ordered. Some equipment is expected no earlier than 30 months.

what is known

• Delays are caused by the lack of numerous components, from lenses and pumps to microcontrollers, plastic and other electronics.
• At the same time, the demand for such equipment continues to increase.
• TSMC, UMC, Intel and Samsung want to build new factories, but are worried that the delay might hinder those plans.
• The time to fulfill equipment orders has increased significantly. Before the coronavirus pandemic, it took an average of 3-4 months. Last year it went up to 10-12 months.
• Some equipment manufactured by American KLA now needs to wait more than 20 months.
• Equipment for the production of substrates customers will have to wait 30 months versus 12-18 last year.

Last month a component supplier told me the waiting time would be about six months. Last week they said she’ll be eight months old and this week she’s up to 10 months,
– says the head of one of the companies.

According to some sources, the situation in the chip manufacturing industry is starting to resemble a protracted chip supply crisis for the automotive industry.

Taiwanese company UMC believes that the situation will begin to improve in the second half of 2022. A Dutch ASML spokesperson told Nikkei that the chip shortage could continue for another two years.