2 min Devices

Samsung: chip shortages for cars may hit smartphones as well

Samsung: chip shortages for cars may hit smartphones as well

Chip manufacturer Samsung Electronics is warning that the chip shortages hitting the car market could soon impact the supply of parts for smartphones as well.

The world’s largest chip manufacturers are now working at full capacity in an attempt to meet the huge demand for semiconductors that is currently taking place. This tightness is already being felt in the automotive market, with manufacturers simply unable to get enough chips for the cars they want to build.

Due to the shortage, it is currently hardly possible for Samsung to take on extra orders, writes Ars Technica. This could also affect deliveries of Dram Nand chips, which provide memory and storage in various devices. Samsung fears that the high demand will ultimately also jeopardise deliveries of smartphones.

Also shortages with TSMC

TSMC is also struggling to keep up with the demand for semiconductors. The company has promised to speed up deliveries of products for automobiles in an effort to saturate the supplies of automakers. “While our capacity is fully utilized with demand from every sector, TSMC is reallocating our wafer capacity to support the worldwide automotive industry,” the company said.

However, this emphasis on the automotive industry comes at the expense of production for other branches. For example, AMD relies heavily on TSMC to produce its processors and video cards and is struggling to meet the demand for its chips. Nvidia depends on Samsung for the production of its video cards and is also struggling with shortages. Qualcomm has its chips made alternately by Samsung and TSMC.

Intel has its own chip factories and has adjusted its product line to the still limited supply of 10nm chips. Many chips are still produced on the 14nm process, which the company now has a lot of experience with. Intel is also strongly considering outsourcing part of its production to TSMC.