BlockBeats News, July 24th. According to South Korea's Electronic News, the recent major semiconductor manufacturing equipment delivery lead time has doubled. Applied Materials, ASML, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron, and KLA collectively hold about 70% of the global semiconductor equipment market, and their main equipment delivery lead times have generally extended to 1.5 to 2 times the original. Some equipment with a normal delivery lead time of 6 months now requires about 1 year of waiting.

Similar situations have also emerged with South Korean domestic equipment manufacturers. A South Korean company that supplies front-end and back-end equipment to TSMC and Micron has seen its product delivery lead time extend from 3 to 4 months to 6 to 8 months; another Micron back-end equipment supplier has seen its lead time increase to 1.5 times the original, with some equipment waiting for over 1 year.

Equipment delivery delays may affect the original production schedule of wafer fabs. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have started closely monitoring equipment delivery status and are considering issuing purchase orders earlier than planned to reduce the risk of equipment not being able to enter the fab on time.

This round of extended delivery cycles is different from the 2021 to 2022 supply chain disruptions, mainly stemming from AI infrastructure investments driving chip demand growth. Countries and companies are simultaneously expanding wafer fabs, leading to a surge in equipment orders. As global wafer fab investments continue, shortages in equipment and fab construction-related supplies may persist.