The chip crisis also weighs on Apple, forced to cut iPhone production in one of the crucial moments of the year between Black Friday and Christmas. The US group had plans to build 90 million pieces of its iconic phone in the last quarter of the year but it will stop at 80 million, because two of its main chip suppliers, Broadcom and Texas Instruments, will not be in able to supply enough components on time. The news comes a few weeks after the launch of the new iPhone models: the 13, the 13 Mini, the 13 Pro and the 13 Pro Max, so pre-orders started on September 17th and shipments should have started on the 24th. September. Following the rumors on this front, Apple on Wall Street lost more than 1%, with investors also penalizing other stocks in the sector, starting with those of the suppliers.
The crisis in the sector
That of microchips is only one of the supply chains that, with the strong rebound of the world economy, has entered into suffering. However, this is a crucial component, because electronics are increasingly widespread and pervasive in many sectors, from household appliances to the automotive sector, which is among those that are suffering the most. At the same time, it will not be easy for the semiconductor sector to adapt to the new demand peaks: historically it is an industry that does not have a linear progression, because investments for new factories require a large component of capital and long lead times. In this moment, then, the shortcomings are also upstream, in the industries that create the machinery for the manufacture of microchips. There is, therefore, a double bottleneck which, for the experts, will only normalize starting from next year. As for Apple, in any case, the news did not scare analysts that much; Orders for the new iPhone have started well, and although some shipments have been postponed to November, there is interest in the market for a phone from the group that finally supports 5G, the next-generation mobile network. Expectations are for a quarter of $ 120 billion in revenues, up 7% on last year.
Source-tg24.sky.it