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Top Chipmaker Releases the Horrible Prediction Nobody Wants to Hear

Last year, tech giant Intel released a forecast that many considered to be ridiculous. The chip shortage, Intel said, wouldn’t be over before 2024, pretty much because the demand would remain at record levels, all while the investments in production capacity would require more time to come to fruition.
Infineon is currently one of the leading chipmakers 6 photos
Photo: Infineon
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And now it looks like Intel was right.

The end of the chip shortage not only isn’t on the radar right now, but it’s also something that nobody can accurately anticipate.

And with 2022 almost over, it goes without saying that many people hope that the new year would bring the highly anticipated recovery in terms of global inventory.

But according to Infineon, one of the leading names in the semiconductor business, this is very unlikely to happen. Speaking recently at an event in Germany, Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck said the words nobody wanted to hear.

The company is anticipating a long-time shortage, and this kind of makes a 2023 recovery pretty impossible.

Most chipmakers claim their order books for 2023 are already full, so the demand indeed continues to be strong, especially in the automotive market. While sales of new PCs, tablets, and smartphones declined in the last quarters, and this should theoretically ease off the burden on chipmakers, the investments in new-generation car systems fuel the chip crisis.

Anticipating when the semiconductor crunch would be over is rather impossible, not only because of the volatile market but also as a result of the rising inflation and the increasing risks of a global recession.

Research firm IDC said not a long time ago that all investments in production capacity could eventually backfire and push the world into another type of crisis. Instead of a very constrained inventory of semiconductors, the market could end up being forced to deal with an oversupply of chips.

For the time being, however, most industry experts believe the opposite would happen in 2023, especially as silicon fabs are working around the clock on filling the orders for their customers in the automotive business.

Carmakers themselves don’t seem too optimistic either. Earlier this year, General Motors’ CEO said the chip shortage is likely to continue in 2023 and even “beyond,” therefore anticipating challenging production conditions for at least one more year.

At the end of the day, the ones who are impacted the hardest are potential customers interested in buying a new car. All the problems in the semiconductor crisis make getting a new vehicle a lot more difficult, not only because of the increased costs but also due to the painfully long waiting times. At this point, some carmakers wouldn’t ship certain models earlier than 12 months, with others are telling customers to wait for more than 18 months to receive the cars they order.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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