No end in sight for chip shortage as supply chain problems pile up

Enlarge / A woman examines a mask-a part used in wafer conception-at a show room of the United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) factory in Tainan, southern Taiwan. (credit: Sam Yeh | Getty)

Earlier this year, the chip shortage seemed like it might ease sometime in 2022. Now, that forecast appears to have been optimistic.

The shortages are going to continue indefinitely," Brandon Kulik, head of Deloitte's semiconductor industry practice, told Ars. Maybe that doesn't mean 10 years, but certainly we're not talking about quarters. We're talking about years."

It is becoming clear that snarls in the semiconductor supply chain are weighing on economic growth. Yesterday, both GM and Ford said that missing chips led to slashed profits for the third quarter, and Apple is rumored to be cutting this year's production targets for its iPhone lineup, the company's cash cow. Chip woes have become so widespread that a division of Wells Fargo thinks the pressures will curtail US GDP growth by 0.7 percent.

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