Taiwan’s TSMC has asked several equipment suppliers to slow their deliveries. The chip baker is concerned about the current economic situation.

Chipmaker TSMC has contacted several of its suppliers and asked them to delay their shipments of high-end devices. The Taiwanese company is concerned about declining demand from its customers. This is reported by Reuters after contacting various sources.

It’s the economy

TSMC’s decision is primarily aimed at controlling costs. The delays in the construction of its factory in Arizona (USA) undoubtedly have something to do with this. This is not the first time that the Taiwanese have done this, almost a year ago there was also a sharp decline in orders at TSMC. The question now is what this means for the planned factory in Germany.

According to one of the sources, suppliers believe that this delay will be rather short-term. Meanwhile, TSMC itself does not respond to so-called “rumors within the industry”. Its CEO CC Wei said in July that customers were more cautious due to the current economic situation, including in China and the situation in the end market. According to Wei, TSMC customers are paying more attention to their inventory levels.

The Dutch ASML is one of the affected suppliers. This company produces, among other things, lithography equipment for the production of chips. Its CEO Peter Wennink had previously announced that some orders had been reduced, but he did not say by whom. In any case, Wennink called it rather short-term. Several providers, including ASML, lost several percent on the stock market due to these reports.

Another factor making TSMC uneasy is news of a ban on the use of iPhones by Chinese government employees. News that is completely denied by Beijing. Apple’s devices work with chips from the Taiwanese company. The news that Huawei also wants to bring its own flagship cell phone onto the market is causing further unrest. Due to an embargo by the USA, TSMC no longer supplies chips to the Chinese company.