According to sources from network equipment manufacturers, chips manufactured using mature process nodes, especially power management ICs, MOSFETs and Wi-Fi chips, are expected to be in short supply by mid-2022.

According to the "Electronic Times" report, Haydn Hsieh, chairman of Qiqi Technology, said that the shortage of IC components has affected the production and shipment of its overall equipment and solutions, resulting in its current revenue and profits this year being lower than expected.

Haydn Hsieh said that the insufficient supply of PMIC, MOSFET and Wi-Fi chips has prompted customers to more actively place orders with his company and local counterparts, causing the gap between shipments and orders to continue to expand. It is estimated that the current gap exceeds 20%. However, it is expected to gradually ease in the second quarter of next year.

Edward Tseng, president of Zhiyi Technology, pointed out that due to the tight supply of related chips, the company's backlog of orders continued to grow. He said that the delivery cycle of US chip suppliers has been extended from 32-36 weeks in the second half of 2020 to more than 50 weeks in 2021.

According to industry sources, as chip prices continue to rise, network equipment manufacturers will have no choice but to raise their quotations to reflect the increase in chip costs.

The sharp rise in ocean and air freight costs has also prompted manufacturers to increase prices. According to the person, in 2021, ocean freight rates have increased by 6-8 times, while air freight rates have increased by 2-3 times.

According to sources, most customers can accept reasonable price increases for network equipment and solutions, which has enabled Zhonglei Electronics, Zhongqi Technology, and Zyxel Investment Control to increase their gross profit margins in the second and third quarters.