A new problem is approaching the semiconductor industry.

With the planned expansion of capacities in Asia, America and Europe, there are increasing bottlenecks in relation to the machines required for the computer chips.

"We have been seeing these tooling supply problems unexpectedly since the beginning of this year," said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) chief CC Wei on Thursday when the quarterly results were presented.

Patrick Welter

Correspondent for business and politics in Japan based in Tokyo.

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For this year, TSMC has no trouble with that, Wei said.

Deliveries for 2023 and beyond are being worked on.

He kept quiet about how much the development would affect TSMC's investment plans.

According to him, the problem affects the production of chips of the latest, but also of the older generations.

TSMC with record profit

Supported by continued strong demand, especially for high-performance chips and from the automotive industry, TSMC significantly improved its financial results in the period from January to March and achieved record values.

Sales rose 36 percent to 491.1 billion New Taiwan dollars (15.6 billion euros).

Profit reached a record 202.7 billion New Taiwan Dollars, or 45 percent more than a year ago.

The gross margin rose to a record 55.6 percent.

The fact that TSMC significantly increased the prices of its chips last year contributed to the increase in profits.

This is made possible by the sharp increase in demand for chips in the wake of the pandemic.

TSMC is the largest contract manufacturer of semiconductors in the world, which, among other things, produces the logic chips for the products of the American electronics company Apple.

The company supplies numerous other electronics manufacturers, but also car manufacturers.

Because of its size and because of the broad connections to the electronics industry, the company is considered a kind of leading indicator for the industry.

Wei said capacity would remain tight this year.

An easing of the chip shortage is therefore not to be expected.

Demand for semiconductors from the automotive industry remains strong, Wei said.

He said sales could grow more this year than the 25 to 29 percent previously forecast.

This is a sign that the Ukraine war and the inflationary shock may not hit the industry as badly.

Investments in the billions

According to TSMC's analysis, customers continue to hold unusually high inventories of computer chips.

Wei did not see this as an imminent weakness in demand for the end products, but rather a structural shift in response to the supply difficulties during the pandemic.

TSMC and other major semiconductor manufacturers such as Intel or Samsung Electronics have announced new factories and investments worth billions to meet the demand.

Investments are also being driven by the desire of many governments to become less dependent on Asian countries such as Taiwan or South Korea when it comes to semiconductors.

In the course of this development, TSMC has given up its principle of concentrating production on Taiwan.

Investments in new plants in Japan and the United States are underway.

This year TSMC wants to invest 40 billion to 44 billion dollars.

This investment trend is now contributing to the supply difficulties of equipment suppliers.

Wei pointed out that TSMC's suppliers have to deal with the consequences of the pandemic for the supply of semiconductors in other precursors.

TSMC has sent teams of employees to suppliers to support them and to identify critical chips affecting the delivery of machines.

The shortage of chips means that overcoming the shortage is made more difficult by new investments.