Delivery times for chips rose last month, signaling persistent component shortages that have hit growth for months in industries that span the economy.
The lead times — a closely watched gap between when a semiconductor is ordered and when it is delivered — increased by six days to about 25.8 weeks from November, research by Susquehanna Financial Group showed.
That lag marks the longest wait time since the firm began tracking the data in 2017.
Susquehanna recently changed the method it uses to calculate lead times, adding more data sources, and has revised its previous estimates based on the new system.
“The rate of lead time expansion has been choppy, but picked up again in December,” Susquehanna analyst Chris Rolland said in a research note on Tuesday. “Lead times for nearly every product category witnessed all-time highs, with power management and MCUs [microcontrollers] leading the charge.”
In the past, lengthening lead times have been followed by painful periods of oversupply. The concern is that customers might try to purchase more than they need now in an effort to ensure they get chips and later cancel the requests, which the industry calls double ordering.
While average times stretched again, some major suppliers are delivering products to their customers in a more timely manner, the research showed.
Broadcom Inc’s lead times “modestly fell” last month to 29 weeks, the report said.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to