Supply Chain ‘Constraints’ Impede Broadcom Wafer Shipments, CEO Says

Broadcom expects to start "benefiting from the transition to 5G" soon, and new smartphone "product ramps later this year,” said CEO Hock Tan on a fiscal Q3 call Thursday. Wireless revenue in Q3 ended Aug. 2 was down 4% sequentially. Broadcom is a big iPhone supplier. Apple didn’t comment Friday. Broadcom Q4 revenue year on year will be “roughly flat” due to fewer parts shipments “relative to last year,” Tan said. Of the factories that were running under capacity after they emerged from lockdown, “most of that has been resolved,” he said. “Supply chain constraint on wafers and substrates continues.” So “our lead times are still very extended, based on the technology nodes and the particular products that we produce and sell,” Tan said. “Given the kinds of products we do, we see some of the constraint, and I’ll be direct. We could have shipped more in Q3 if such constraints were not as tight.”