While global supply chains and chip shortages have been nagging at manufacturers, the Intel CEO has warned that chip shortages will continue to 2023.
Despite the concern that chip shortages will continue to 2023 and even seeing government trying to respond with alternative production outside southeast Asia, the concern remains. The seemingly endless restrictions due to whatever COVID-19 variant has emerged is also seemingly keeping global production and life from returning to normal.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger talked up (via Nikkei Asia) their concerns that shortages will continue during a trip in southeast Asia, where Intel announced they’re investing $7.1 billion into expanding their manufacturing in Malaysia – outside the longstanding hubs in China and Taiwan.
“I expect to announce our next major U.S. site and our next major European site in the near future as well,” Gelsinger said after the reveal of their new production in Malaysia. This also echoes the proposed tax dollars that America is looking to throw at semiconductor manufacturers to relocate their production to the continental United States.
All of this investment money and new legislation won’t do anything to make the new production lines spin up any faster, however. Intel announced new manufacturing plants in the USA, Israel, and Ireland several years ago, all of which have yet to start full blown production.
Malaysia’s Senior Minister of International Trade and Industry Mohamed Azmin Ali reassured Intel and their partners that there won’t be further heavy lockdowns, like the ones implemented during the beginnings of COVID-19 that crippled global supply chains.
“I have assured Pat that there will be no longer lockdowns, only targeted ones,” he said. “Even during the last lockdowns, we had assured minimal disruptions to the supply chain as we know how important it is to the world,” Ali said.
Have you built a new computer rig since the beginning of COVID-19, or have you tried purchasing a new gaming console whenever they’re actually available? Sound off in the comments below!
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