--- title: "\"No Parts, No Equipment\"! South Korea's Semiconductor Inspection Industry Faces \"Most Severe\" Component Shortage in History" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/288135699.md" description: "Due to a severe shortage of non-memory chips, the supply chain for South Korea's semiconductor inspection equipment has hit a bottleneck. FPGA lead times have extended to 52 weeks, while Intel server CPUs have seen market prices triple and new product launches delayed as priority supply is allocated to cloud service providers. This has led to rising costs and delayed deliveries for equipment manufacturers, making advance stocking the new industry norm" datetime: "2026-05-30T06:39:26.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/288135699.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/288135699.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/288135699.md) --- # "No Parts, No Equipment"! South Korea's Semiconductor Inspection Industry Faces "Most Severe" Component Shortage in History South Korea's semiconductor inspection equipment industry is facing severe supply chain bottlenecks—a widespread shortage of non-memory chips used in manufacturing inspection equipment has significantly lengthened delivery cycles and driven up equipment costs, forcing multiple equipment vendors to delay delivery commitments to customers. Among these issues, **the lead time for programmable semiconductors (FPGAs) has suddenly extended from the original 8–10 weeks to as long as 52 weeks, while driver integrated circuits (Driver ICs) have shifted from being available for immediate purchase to requiring a wait of at least 10 weeks.** Affected by this, an inspection equipment manufacturer that had signed a supply contract worth tens of billions of South Korean won with Samsung Electronics was forced to postpone its delivery date by three months. The shortage of Intel server-grade CPUs (Xeon series) has further exacerbated the situation. Intel has prioritized its limited capacity for hyperscale cloud service providers and data centers, leading to poor supply availability in other downstream markets. The market price for some CPUs has surged from approximately 1 million South Korean won to 3 million South Korean won, representing a threefold increase. Industry insiders point out that the current dilemma is not merely a shortage of individual components but a systemic imbalance in the non-memory semiconductor supply chain. As demand for AI and data center infrastructure continues to soar, the demand for semiconductor chips and semiconductor inspection equipment is expanding rapidly in tandem, creating direct competition. The shortage is unlikely to ease in the short term. ## Significant Extension of FPGA and Driver IC Lead Times FPGAs are core components of inspection equipment, primarily used for real-time analysis of inspection data and rapid identification of yield issues. A representative from a chip distributor stated, "While FPGAs vary slightly depending on specifications, **they currently typically require a 52-week lead time,**" highlighting the severe supply situation. The global FPGA market is currently dominated by AMD, which previously completed its acquisition of Xilinx. Regarding driver ICs, Analog Devices (ADI) is experiencing extremely severe supply bottlenecks for its integrated "Pin Driver" product series supplied for semiconductor automatic test equipment (ATE). In the past, related chips could be purchased immediately from distributors, but lead times have now extended to over 10 weeks. ## Intel Prioritizes Major Clients, Next-Generation Products Delayed The shortage of server-grade CPUs has delivered a compounded impact on the inspection equipment industry. Intel has recently shifted the focus of its Xeon series CPU supply toward more profitable hyperscale cloud service providers and data center server customers, causing significant tightness in supply for other markets. An individual in the semiconductor equipment industry stated, **"Procuring Intel server-grade CPUs is becoming increasingly difficult,"** with prices for some products having tripled. Intel's mass production plan for its next-generation server CPU, "Diamond Rapids," has also been postponed from the originally scheduled second half of this year to the middle of next year. This delay means that the research, development, and supply schedules for next-generation inspection equipment relying on the high-performance features of this processor will be delayed to varying degrees. Component shortages have directly impacted actual deliveries. It is reported that an inspection equipment manufacturer recently signed an equipment supply contract with Samsung Electronics valued at over 10 billion South Korean won, but due to delays in component arrivals, it ultimately had to postpone the delivery date by three months. An industry insider stated, "The current situation is not a problem with a specific component like FPGAs or CPUs, but rather a severe bottleneck across the entire non-memory semiconductor supply chain." ## Advance Stocking Becomes the "New Norm," Shortages May Persist Facing continuing supply pressures, inspection equipment manufacturers have generally adopted an advance stocking strategy: negotiating equipment quantities and delivery dates with customers and placing component orders months before formally signing purchase orders (POs). However, the industry admits that **even with this approach, the current stocking mechanism struggles to ensure 100% smooth supply.** The industry broadly expects that the tight supply situation for non-memory semiconductors required for inspection equipment will not improve in the short term. Strong demand for AI and data center infrastructure is sustaining the overall semiconductor boom, causing both downstream components and inspection equipment to face explosive demand, making it difficult to quickly relieve supply pressure. For semiconductor manufacturers purchasing inspection equipment, the situation is equally grim. An industry insider noted that the strategy of "close collaboration between semiconductor manufacturers and equipment vendors to anticipate and proactively respond" is being adopted by an increasing number of companies, becoming the new industry norm. ### Related Stocks - [INTC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/INTC.US.md) - [INTW.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/INTW.US.md) - [SSNGY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SSNGY.US.md) - [AMD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AMD.US.md) - [ADI.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ADI.US.md) - [SMSN.UK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SMSN.UK.md) ## Related News & Research - [Intel Just Launched Its SuperClaw AI Tool. 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