TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese chipmaker United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) sees the current global semiconductor shortage lasting until 2023, reports said Wednesday (July 7).
Company President S.C. Chien (簡山傑) told a shareholders’ meeting that the digital transformation of the economy brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic was fueling a situation where supply was unable to meet demand for computer chips, CNA reported.
The world’s second-largest contract semiconductor maker said the surge in demand amounted to a structural problem that could not be resolved within the near future. The demand for automotive electronics, laptops, and 5G smartphones was not going to subside, driving the business at least into 2022 and even further, Chien said.
Even if chipmakers invested in new manufacturing capacity right now by launching the building of new fabs, their production would only come online in 2023, he added.
Other leading Taiwanese companies in the chip sector, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), MediaTek Inc., and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE), have also widely been reported as standing to benefit from the global demand for electronics.
