IC Supply Shortages: How Does 2023 Kick Off?

Guido Kuhrmann from HID Global explains the chip market development in an interview!

Mr. Kuhrmann, how is HID Global starting in 2023?

HID Global's projects are going extremely well. Our business has developed extremely positively in recent years despite the pandemic. But we have the problem of not getting enough raw materials. And I think this challenge will continue in 2023. At 100 percent, we have to plan allocatively because the IC market does not offer the required quantities on the market.

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What solution do you see for the bottlenecks in the chip sector?

We are trying to buy more ICs from other less well-known and smaller chip manufacturers to avoid being so dependent on one or two large suppliers in the future.

And to be honest, at the moment, we can't quite make out why this IC shortage is still going on. The redistribution of IC's that occurred at the beginning of the pandemic should be over. But the IC shortage continues to exist.

Are you in favor of the markets returning more to Europe?

Absolutely, and that should also be a very strong trend. We need to get production back under control here locally. And I'm deliberately referring to Europe here. HID Global is already moving in this direction. We have acquired LUX-IDent, an RFID tag manufacturer from the Czech Republic. LUX-IDent is producing there very successfully, so we have already moved production from Malaysia to the Czech Republic. This gives us more flexibility.

Are there any other endeavors there, apart from the LUX-IDent example?

Yes, we have, for example, acquired the US company Vizinex. This is also a company with its own production facilities. Production there is also being expanded and extended. In addition, we opened our new plant in Galway, Ireland, last year.

So you expect 2023 to be a relaxed year?

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No, unfortunately not. The IC delivery bottlenecks will not ease completely. As I mentioned before, we are not getting the quantities we require for the volume of orders. However, we will face the challenges and fight for the products for our customers.