The great chip shortage isn’t the only thing dragging down consumer electronics production. Manufacturers everywhere are also struggling to hire enough workers, a new survey says.
The findings come from a trade group called the IPC, which this month surveyed hundreds of companies across the globe to gauge their views on the electronics supply chain. The results found that 80% of the companies reported it was “somewhat” or “extremely” difficult to find qualified workers.
The other major challenge facing manufacturers is rising costs for components and other supplies. “Nine in 10 manufacturers are currently experiencing increased materials cost, with seven in ten reporting increased labor costs,” the survey found.
The survey comes weeks after major chip foundry TSMC reportedly began announcing a price hike for its chip manufacturing. According to the IPC, 90% of all surveyed manufacturers are blaming the chip shortage for causing them to pay higher costs to suppliers.
IPC didn’t say whether the rising costs will push the same companies to raise prices for consumer electronics. But about 30% of the companies surveyed expect their profit margins to shrink over the next six months.
On the positive side, the survey concluded “the electronics supply chain continues to perform well despite challenging circumstances.” At the same time, the industry is facing rising customer orders and gradually growing manufacturing capacity.
However, 58% of the survey respondents don’t expect the semiconductor shortage to resolve until the “second half of 2022 or beyond.”
“Strong demand is helping industry sales, but shortages are delaying shipments and increasing backlogs,” IPC Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac said in statement. “Manufacturers are facing higher prices as they compete for limited supply. This is a global phenomenon that is going to take well into next year to resolve.”
Still, others look at the situation as a glass half-full situation. This week, research firm IDC offered a rosier take on the current chip shortage. “The industry will see normalization and balance by the middle of 2022, with a potential for overcapacity in 2023 as larger scale capacity expansions begin to come online towards the end of 2022,” IDC wrote in a report.