As the demand for semiconductor equipment has increased significantly, there has been a bottleneck in the supply of components. The lead time for advanced components required for semiconductor manufacturing equipment has been more than 2 times longer than usual. Equipment supply has entered a vicious circle due to rising raw material prices and shortages of equipment semiconductors.

According to ETNews, the lead time for core components has been extended from the usual 2-3 months to more than 6 months. Lead times for advanced components such as the United States, Japan, and Germany have also increased significantly. Products facing bottlenecks include advanced sensors, precision thermometers, MCUs that manage devices, and power line communication (PLC) devices. Some components, such as PLC equipment, were delayed by more than 12 months.

A person from a semiconductor equipment manufacturer said, "Semiconductor equipment manufacturers that did not secure inventories despite placing orders last year encountered difficulties in producing equipment. As the delivery time for parts has increased, the delivery date of equipment has also been delayed. "

Manufacturers of test equipment imported from the United States tried to purchase parts locally, but failed to do so due to insufficient inventory of parts manufacturers. With the rising prices of semiconductor raw materials such as aluminum and steel, semiconductor companies have encountered difficulties in securing semiconductor parts and casting parts.

The reason for the shortage of components for semiconductor equipment is a surge in demand. As global semiconductor companies have invested a lot of money to solve the problem of insufficient semiconductor supply, orders for semiconductor equipment have also increased significantly. In some cases, equipment deliveries that used to take only a few months have taken more than two years. As the equipment industry rapidly ramps up production to deal with the surge in demand, entire parts inventories have been depleted. The fact that overseas parts and components manufacturers have not significantly increased their production capacity is also one of the reasons why the supply is in short supply. Semiconductor equipment companies were responsive to equipment investment and began to rapidly expand production capacity; however, component manufacturers were slow to respond.

A person in the semiconductor industry said: "Semiconductor equipment companies can easily increase production capacity with clean rooms, but parts companies need to do a lot to build new infrastructure. Parts companies are burdened by large-scale equipment investment. It was too heavy, so there was a bottleneck.”

National semiconductor equipment companies, including South Korea, are also facing delayed supply priorities. In other words, major overseas component companies will first supply top semiconductor equipment companies such as Applied Semiconductor, ASML, TEL, and Lam Research. Local semiconductor equipment makers in South Korea, with relatively low sales, received fewer parts.

The global semiconductor undersupply is expected to worsen as the production of manufacturing equipment, a core element of semiconductor production, is disrupted. Due to insufficient inventory, the delivery date of semiconductor equipment has been delayed, and the equipment investment cycle of semiconductor manufacturers will inevitably slow down.