It’s really amazing how the world of semiconductors is changing. Just a few days ago, the news broke that the number of chips manufactured was going to increase, which is not new as such since we already talked about it almost a month and a half ago, c So that was the confirmation of that for this first quarter. But now the United States is dropping a new bomb that destroys all of the above: there is only an inventory of chips to 5 days seen.
How is it possible that the main players in the industry are calling for calm and that the United States is now sending the opposite message? Well, everything turns into a survey that would have been made from the land of stars and stripes where if we look back we will see the situation in which we find ourselves.
Inventory of tokens 5 days in advance
The statements of Gina Raimondo, US Secretary of Commerce, are as clear as they are justly alarming:
“According to a survey conducted by the Ministry about 150 companies around the world, manufacturers’ average chip inventories are collapsing from a supply 40 days around 2019 5 days at the end of last year.”
What this implies is very simple: the industry is barely chipped, everything manufactured is already sold before the order is placed, and demand continues to far outstrip supply. It’s not really new, the problem is that it’s another thorn in the wound that makes us remember and be more aware that we are far from finished.
On the other hand, 150 companies involve many players in the sector and if it is true that semiconductors cover a multitude of approaches and needs, those that mainly concern us here have another fate because unfortunately for us in computing we still have the valued advances and chips that make the companies that are under the greatest pressure today.
NVIDIA, AMD and Intel, rising prices and larger inventories
The three main actors do not suffer the same fate as the others. NVIDIA has already stated that in the second quarter there will be approximately one 15% more graphics cards in the market and your network of servers and FPGAs will also have more stock. AMD follows a similar trend, although more restrained by the “fault” of TSMC.
And it is that it must bring to market not only more GPUs, but also new products in the face of Intel, since it is once again clearly disadvantaged by the blue giant in all respects.
For its part, Intel has been planning the launch of the entire Alder Lake range for almost a year and has hit AMD hard. The availability of its chips looks very good and we will have to see how it copes with the launch of ARC Alchemist and its availability, mainly because all eyes and eyes of industry and miners are on them. On the other hand, the commitment for its mining ASICs is also high, and it has been quite well received by very strong companies that mine Bitcoin.
Best of all is that in this whole problem, Intel shows stock strength more or less he meets the deadlines and above all he keeps the prices as he said, so his image improves and the performance does the rest.
Regarding the semiconductor crisis, it is clear that the industry is not far, it is still very far from being able to say that it is over, after which it is possible that, as we see after the pandemic , there is an inflation bias that could result in high prices to dampen the demand that was expected, because one other thing is clear: no matter what market analysts say, said demand won’t last until 2026 or it will increase at the rate they predict. What goes up must come down…
