Apple Computers is the latest company hit by the ongoing global semiconductor shortage, which has impacted iPad and MacBook production for the tech giant, Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday.
According to the report, iPad production has been postponed due to the shortage of key components and MacBook supply lines were backlogged due to component mounting processes on integrated circuit boards despite the firm's "massive procurement power".
“As a result of the delay, Apple has pushed back a portion of component orders for the two devices from the first half of this year to the second half,” sources familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia.
The report added downstream iPhone components were "tight" despite production remaining at normal levels but noted the crisis was set to worsen due to a lack of production and secure supply chains.
What's Happening in the Global Chip Crunch?
The ongoing chip crisis was caused by a massive spike in demand for consumer electronics and automotive components amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, according to global reports on the matter.
Restrictions from the US trade war on China also limited global chip supplies after former US president Donald Trump blocked Chinese tech firms from accessing key US components, including semiconductors and software.
The United States and China entered a tech race in recent months to decouple from foreign technologies, namely in semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G equipment, infrastructure and other key components in the ongoing trade war.
But Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co chairman Mark Liu slammed efforts to build national self-sufficiency in semiconductors as "economically unrealistic", adding the trade war had lead to problems in the global chip shortage.
US chipmaker Intel Corp also announced plans in April to build two fab plants in Arizona worth $20bn, just weeks after US president Joe Biden signed an executive order in February to boost national chip production capacity.
