AMD CEO Believes Chip Crisis Could Be Completed In Q2 2022

JAKARTA - This year the technology industry is experiencing a global chip crisis, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not known when this problem will end, but AMD CEO Lisa Su said that the second half of 2022 will find a bright spot for this problem.

Su said that although the chip shortage could be overcome in Q2 2022, he reminded that Q1 this year had seen a very severe mass crisis. Chip vendors are still chasing demand following severe supply chain bottlenecks caused by the pandemic.

But the factory built last year, Su said is likely to start producing chips in the coming months, helping to reduce shortages of PC parts and other microchips.

“We always go through cycles of ups and downs, where demand has exceeded supply, or vice versa. This time is different," said Su as quoted from CNBC International, Friday, October 1.

Su added the process will be gradual as more production capacity becomes available, “It might take, you know, 18 to 24 months to tidy up a new factory, and in some cases even longer than that. This investment started maybe a year ago," said Su.

AMD is a popular brand whose business includes processors and graphics chips for PCs, game consoles, and servers. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, PC sales have soared as consumers around the world buy new computers for their homes, so their children can go to school remotely.

"The pandemic has just taken demand to a new level," said Su. But demand for PC chips and parts remains high even as the economy reopens, and shortages spread to other industries, including autos.

That helped increase AMD's stake by more than 120 percent since the start of last year, to more than $108. Su said that AMD supports the CHIPS Act, which became law earlier this year and includes subsidies to encourage the manufacture of microchips in the United States.

However, AMD doesn't make their own chips, but they outsource production to foundries, or chip factories. AMD's rival, Intel this year that they will continue to invest in the manufacture of microchips and will be a foundry for other chip companies.