ASML CEO Says Chip Shortage Will Persist Two More Years at Least

Image Louis Reed via Unsplash

22 MARCH 2022 - One company says it’s going to be at least a couple of years before chip supply catches up with chip demand. That’s not the word from somebody who makes chips. That’s the word from somebody who makes the machines that make the chips. The Financial Times has heard that word from Peter Wennink. He’s the CEO of ASML. According to the piece, “ASML’s machines are used to etch circuits into silicon wafers.” The paper has Richard Windsor, tech analyst at Radio Free Mobile, identifying ASML as “the single most critical company in the semiconductor supply chain… It is the printing press of silicon chips.” And its CEO says:

Next year and the year after there will be shortages… We’re going to ship more machines this year than last year and . . . more machines next year than this year. But it will not be enough if we look at the demand curve. We really need to step up our capacity significantly more than 50 per cent. That will take time.