The global semiconductor shortage that has plagued industries for years is finally showing signs of easing as major new fabrication plants come online in the US, Europe, and Asia. Industry output has increased by an estimated 18 percent year-over-year.
TSMC’s Arizona facility has begun initial production of advanced 4-nanometre chips, while Intel’s Ohio mega-fab is on track for Q4 2026 output. Samsung’s Texas expansion is also progressing ahead of schedule, with test wafers already being produced.
Industry analysts project chip supply will reach equilibrium by late 2026, though advanced AI chips remain constrained due to surging demand from data centres building out capacity for large language model training and inference.
The automotive sector, which was among the hardest hit by the shortage, has seen lead times for microcontrollers shrink from 52 weeks at peak crisis to approximately 16 weeks currently. Major automakers have begun unwinding emergency stockpiling programmes.
Government subsidies under the US CHIPS Act, the EU Chips Act, and similar programmes in Japan and South Korea have been credited with accelerating the capacity buildout, collectively directing over 200 billion dollars toward semiconductor manufacturing.