After two years devastated by the pandemic of COVID-19unfortunately 2022 saw the arrival of another event that destabilized the planet: the invasion ofUkraine by the Russia. Although the conflict is currently confined to the local level, its repercussions are likely to continue in the coming months to the rest of the world as well. There is already talk of substantial increases in resources such as gas, but it seems that, according to the main chip makers and the Semiconductor Industry Associationthe semiconductor shortage is not expected to be affected.
A spokesperson for Intel told colleagues of Bloomberg: “We do not anticipate any impact on our supply chain. Our strategy of having a diverse and global supply chain minimizes our risk of potential local disruptions“. Also GlobalFoundrieswhich owns factories near New York, Singapore and Dresden, Germany, said: “At GlobalFoundries we do not anticipate a direct risk. We are not totally immune to global shortcomings, but our footprint provides us with greater isolation“.
John Neufferchief executive officer and president of the Semiconductor Industry Association, added:
The semiconductor industry has a diverse set of suppliers of key materials and gases, so we don’t believe there are any immediate risks of supply disruption related to Russia and Ukraine. The US semiconductor industry is fully committed to complying with the new export control rules announced today in response to the deeply disturbing events unfolding in Ukraine. We are still examining the new rules to determine their impact on our industry. While the impact of the new rules for Russia could be significant, Russia is not a significant direct consumer of semiconductors, accounting for less than 0.1% of global chip purchases, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization.
Ultimately, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia shouldn’t further worsen the chip shortage on the market, but it will certainly affect other markets, which are likely to impact more on everyday life.
