On January 30, on Thursday, Apple announced record earnings results and believed that chip shortages were improving. Apple's victory over global chip supply shortages has brought good news to a troubled market, but analysts say the crisis is not resolved as quickly.
Bob O'Donnell, principal analyst at TECHnalysis Research, said, "For Apple, the supply-constrained problem has mostly been solved, but not necessarily for other companies," Reuters reported. ”
From electric car maker Tesla to wafer fabrication equipment supplier Lam Research, many companies have once again warned that supply chain issues that have bogged down multiple industries will continue to limit production this year.
Semiconductor companies tend to prioritize large companies like Apple because of their strong purchasing power, huge market demand for their products, and the ability of companies to customize orders for the components used in their products. Apple's high-end chips are expensive, which is attractive to chipmakers. This essentially means that Apple has the advantage and can source parts faster than its competitors.
But Lou Miscioscia, an analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets, said that while Apple, like many other companies, has had better capacity support on more complex chips, it has also run into trouble on some mature process chips.
Cook told analysts that the chips used in the iPad are chips with mature processes, and the supply of these mature process chips is particularly tight, resulting in a 14% drop in iPad revenue. During the holiday season, the restrictions on mature process chips or nodes are very obvious. "Overall, we did see an improvement in the march quarter's constraints compared to the December quarter," Cook noted.
Tesla CEO Musk said this week that supply chain issues would limit production output at all of the company's factories. He told analysts: "Chip shortages, while less than last year, are still a problem. ”
Semiconductor equipment maker Lam Research pointed to new supply challenges, with an increase in the number of confirmed cases in Omicron exacerbating disruptions in freight and logistics operations.
Analysts and market leaders in the semiconductor sector hope that supply problems will be alleviated later this year. Romeo Alvarez, a technology analyst at William O'Neil + Co, said: "This will remain a concern for the industry, but Apple may be an exception." ”