Global smartphone market faces record annual decline as chip crunch worsens - ET Telecom

The global smartphone market is experiencing an unprecedented annual decline, directly linked to worsening chip shortages. ET Telecom reports that semiconductor supply chain issues have profoundly imp... Read original →

The chip shortage has evolved from a capacity bottleneck into a structural technology gap. Heavy reliance on advanced nodes for 5G and AI workloads concentrates smartphone SoC and RF chip production at TSMC in Taiwan, China, amplifying supply chain fragility. Upstream constraints in EDA tools and equipment, coupled with downstream OEMs delaying flagship launches, create cascading tech delays. Government-led localization drives inflate compliance costs and capex without near-term relief—new fabs require over 24 months to ramp. Samsung and Apple are locking dedicated capacity via in-house silicon, while Chinese brands shift to redundant mid-tier SoC designs to secure output. Over the next 18 months, 'performance inflation' will emerge: diminished compute per dollar forces longer replacement cycles. This crisis marks a reckoning for the global semiconductor model—efficiency is yielding to strategic redundancy.