Very smart comment, and that's the question: is the present spike in semiconductor demand a temporary situation, or a new reality?

If this demand environment is a new reality, then prices will go up and it will take several years of CapEx to get them back down. If it's just a spike, then the pure-play foundries may still invest in those legacy production lines, but there will be less of a long-term presence.

I am personally of the opinion that this is a permanent market shift; WFH is here to stay, so there has been real and lasting demand creation for cars. Plus, the transition to EV is undeniable, and will perhaps see an inflection point in this self-reflective moment where automakers have to shut down production lines and reassess their plans anyway.

> is the present spike in semiconductor demand a temporary situation, or a new reality?

I have access to quite pricey market research from Digitimes, SEMI and such.

Biggest contributors to growth are things very, very remote from both cars, and trendy gadgets.

You just keep getting more ICs put into just about everything, and at the same time very simple devices get bigger global penetration.

For example, a giant growth centre been rooftop solar equipment for developing countries — completely missed, and invisible in the West.

Electric mopeds, scooters, and lsevs — again, things mostly invisible, and unknown in the West.

LED lighting — growth immeasurable, and hard to count

Home appliances

Power ICs, and motor drivers

Security devices: locks, locators, CCTV, alarms — 100x+ growth over a decade

Vending machines, signage — 60x growth over a decade

There is a glut for crappy mask. Decent ones are still not quite in balance.

>because of a failure of forecasting

It depends on which side of forecasting, was it demand or supply? It is always easy for outsider to say they should have built 10 Fabs 4 years ago and they would have been riding the tide. But even older ones are still CapEx intensive and relatively long ROI. Which means from a business prospective it is better safe than sorry.

And that is especially true with TSMC who are extremely conservative.

There was another comment about Auto Maker should built their own Fab. I really dont see how this would make any sense. All Auto Maker has to do to guarantee supply was to sign a long term agreement with TSMC, or even ask TSMC to built dedicated Fabs for them. But not a single client ( apart from Apple ) was willing to bet. No one was willing to bet their game for 3-4 years in advance. There is also the conservative nature of traditional business in demand side. If they sign it now at a cost that is 40% higher than their previous median, will they end up like Airliners hedging on Oil Price and ultimately cost them the billions.

So it really is the problem from both side.

And the same is true in ALL other market. Anyone who has ever worked in buy and sell, supply chain should see how similar the conversations are.

> Those chips are also low margin and the shortage is only because of a failure of forecasting

Not at all, at all. People have foreseen that at least half a decade ago, it's just the reality beaten even most brave forecasts.

Semiconductor economics is one of the most studied fields after agriculture, and industrial commodities economics.

Is there a mask glut seems the opposite? The N95s I get are a little bit cheaper but still $4 /per for the nice ones.

And they aren't US market masks. I'm 95% sure they are real. Not the kind with the fancy foil seal but if they're fake I'm sure they have basically the same effect. Lately I wear 3M 1870+ and it has the best fit for a tight seal.

In Austria they made N95(FFP2) masks mandatory in closed public spaces so supermarkets sell them at 0.59$ a piece or give them for free with each purchase. At that price, they're not the best quality ones, but better than cloth or surgical ones and their shape makes it difficult for idiots to wear them underneath their noses.

Yeah they don't have to be super fancy! I would think fit is the #1 thing material sounds easy enough (maybe it's not I'm just intuiting).

I am so depressed with my country (US). this should have been so obvious and we should have used Defense Production Act to scale it up 10 months ago.

It sounds like Biden admin is advocating N95s now hopefully they use legal means to push for it.

I like how the Olympic committee has tried to take into account that the buildout of facilities every 4 years follows a similar boom/bust cycle, and they're at least trying to think about how we can satisfy both short-term and long-term goals at the same time.

For instance, a stadium where 30% of the seats are built to last, and the remaining 70% are bolted on, meant to be taken back off and recycled after the closing ceremonies.

I don't know how you build a mask factory so you can use it for something else. I do know of textile factories that have pivoted temporarily. Can you build up a short-lived production line for an integrated circuit and then tear it down but leave all of the infrastructure in place to pivot to something else? What I hear out of Intel is that setting up such a fab is a long and expensive process.

What I also hear is a lot of people challenging Intel's wisdom. So now I don't know what to think.

> Can you build up a short-lived production line for an integrated circuit and then tear it down but leave all of the infrastructure in place to pivot to something else?

Not at those margins.

Most fabs build will be running 24/7 until they crumble to dust.

TSMC still operates fabs built in eighties.

> Most fabs build will be running 24/7 until they crumble to dust.

This is false. Fabs get decommissioned from time to time.

> TSMC still operates fabs built in eighties.

I mean, kind of. TSMC's oldest operating fab is Fab 2; it was built in 1989 and it started production in 1990.

https://investor.tsmc.com/static/annualReports/2016/english/...

Fab 1 was decommissioned twenty years ago.

Well, it has been done in the past - automobile (and many other!) companies built tanks and other war material during WW2.