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Automobile factories are frequently stopped due to a global shortage of semiconductors, and the spark is spreading to the smartphone market. Even if you order a popular product now, you may have to wait more than a month.
Reporter Ahn Hee-jae reports.
<Reporter> When you
click the buy button for Samsung Electronics' foldable phone on the online sales site, you are informed that it will be shipped 4 weeks after ordering.
Offline stores are no different.
[Samsung Digital Plaza employee: (When can I purchase it?) We do not know the schedule yet. I know that all cell phone factories are not running because of the corona virus... .]
While anticipating rapid growth of the foldable market, we did not properly forecast demand.
We tried to increase supply belatedly, but this time, a shortage of semiconductors was an obstacle.
The lack of mobile APs, a key component of smartphones, means that production cannot be rapidly increased.
Apple's recently launched new iPhones are also in the midst of a sell-out.
Even if you order now, delivery will start after November, so you will have to wait at least a month before opening.
Nine out of 10 global smartphone makers are affected by a semiconductor shortage, reducing their projected global shipments this year by 33 million units.
Since the beginning of this year, the production of semiconductors for smartphones has decreased relatively due to the shortage of semiconductors for vehicles, which has worsened since the beginning of this year.
[Ahn Ki-hyun / Executive Vice President of Korea Semiconductor Industry Association: As we increased the production of vehicle semiconductors, the production of semiconductors in other fields decreased.
The shortage is not only for automobiles, but also for PCs and smartphones.] The
shortage of semiconductors, which cannot be resolved in a short period of time, has also resulted in a surge in raw material prices and logistics disruption, adding to global supply chain instability.