On December 8, Susquehanna Financial Group again updated its chip delivery report, reporting that overall chip delivery times extended again in November and now reached 22.3 weeks, confounding many industry expectations that the chip shortage was about to ease, with power management ics and microcontrollers being hit hardest by extended delivery times.

A modest change in October delivery had raised expectations that chip shortages were improving, but Susquehanna Group data showed November delivery extended by four days from October to 22.3 weeks, the longest since the firm began tracking chip delivery in 2017.

That is a blow to an industry that needs more electronic parts, with companies from Apple to Ford all suffering from chip shortages and rising component costs. Chris Rolland, an analyst at The group, said while the increase in deliveries was lower than in most recent months, the market was hoping for a more pronounced improvement in the shortage situation.

Extended lead times for all types of chips tracked by Susquehanna, most notably for power management chips (PMIC) and microcontrollers (MCUS), suggest supply pressures for many chips will continue into 2022. In addition, if more data are included, the overall chip delivery time under the new survey method is more than 25 weeks.

A shortage of semiconductors is hampering the post-pandemic economic recovery, particularly in the automotive industry, which consultancy AlixPartners estimates will lose more than $200bn in global sales this year as a result of the chip shortage.

Chipmakers, on the other hand, have been the biggest winners from strong demand and price increases triggered by shortages. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which makes and designs semiconductor chips, has risen more than 40 percent this year, significantly outperforming the S&P 500.

However, in the past, the extension of delivery time was accompanied by the difficult period of excess supply, causing concern that customers may place repeated orders in order to obtain more supplies, and then cancel a large number of orders when the demand slows down, exacerbating the imbalance between supply and demand.