Chip-Related Crunch Hurts IoT Growth: Silicon Labs' Next Chief

Lack of foundry capacity is hampering growth in an “exploding” IoT market, Silicon Labs President Matt Johnson told us Wednesday. The challenge to increase chipmaking capacity is exacerbated by the long lead times required for fabrication plants, Johnson said. Demand has been increasing and capacity hasn’t grown at the same pace, he said. “Assuming there’s not a macro shift in demand, we’re looking at least a couple of years here of demand-supply imbalance.” It's not just the pandemic: The volatile supply chain phenomenon is the result of several years of demand and supply imbalance, Johnson said. “It’s hard to order anything right now and have it not be delayed,” he said, calling the situation “painful” for semiconductor companies. Johnson becomes CEO when Tyson Tuttle steps down Jan. 1; see our report here.