By David Shepardson and Ben Blanchard
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday that a global survey of semiconductor chip producers and users shows that shortages will persist, driven primarily by wafer production capacity constraints.
Last year’s voluntary survey of 150 companies in the supply chain confirmed that “there is a significant and persistent mismatch in chip supply and demand, and respondents have not seen the problem go away in the next six months.”
US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo told reporters that the department “in some cases didn’t really get what we needed and we’re going to go company by company and do personal engagement and get what we need.”
Taiwan’s Ministry of Economy, responding to the survey, reiterated that Taiwanese companies are working hard to produce chips and coordinating with “important international business partners” to strengthen supply chains.
TSMC, Asia’s most valuable listed company and the largest global contract chip maker, declined to comment.
The United States can oblige foreign semiconductor companies with operations in the country to answer detailed questions about the chip market.
The Commerce Department said it has seen some unusually high prices among some chips used by automakers and medical device manufacturers.
The department said it “will engage the industry in solving specific problems in the coming weeks. We will also look into complaints about unusually high prices.”
“Demand for chips is high. It’s increasing,” Raimondo said, adding that demand is now about 20% above 2019 levels. “There’s not a lot of good news” in this survey, he added.
The department said average consumer inventory of major chips dropped from 40 days in 2019 to less than 5 days in 2021.
US President Joe Biden has been pushing Congress to pass more money to increase chip production in the United States as shortages of key components used in automobiles and computers have exacerbated supply chain bottlenecks.
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