TI's Lead Times ‘Stable’ in Q4, but ‘Hotspots Continue’: VP
Lead times for most Texas Instruments semiconductor products “remained stable” in Q4, but “hotspots continue to exist,” said Dave Pahl, vice president and head-investor relations, on a Tuesday earnings call. “Customers continue to be selective in their expedite requests, increasingly…
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focusing on products that complete a matched set rather than expediting products across the board,” said Pahl. Though there’s a “growing recognition” that the near-term supply and demand “imbalance” will end at some point, “the secular growth of semiconductor content per system will continue to increase, and this requires a robust manufacturing capacity road map for 2025 and beyond,” he said. Customers are expressing “a high level of interest” in TI’s commitment to expanding its internal manufacturing capacity, including its plans, announced Nov. 17, for a multi-fab site in Sherman, Texas, he said. The North Texas site can accommodate up to four fabs long-term, with construction of the first two 300-millimeter wafer fabs expected to begin in 2022. TI finished Q4 with 116 days of inventory, four days higher than at the end of Q3, “still well below where we want to be,” said Chief Financial Officer Rafael Lizardi. TI’s guidance is to finish Q1 with 130-190 days of inventory, he said: “The bottom line is that we want to have more inventory.”