Automotive Chip Lead Times ‘Exceeding a Year’: QuickLogic CEO

Though chipmaker QuickLogic ended Q1 with revenue that was “within the guidance range” of its February forecast, results for the quarter ended April 4 were “still held back due to ongoing COVID-related issues with certain customers and the broader capacity and supply chain issues in the semiconductor industry that have been echoed by many companies recently,” said CEO Brian Faith on a Tuesday earnings call. The company markets voice-enabled SoCs, including an “Amazon-qualified” reference design that lets OEMs develop faster-to-market Alexa smart products. Lead times in the semiconductor industry are “nearly triple” from a year ago, but “not to the extent as certain markets like automotive, where the supply chain is most constricted with some lead times exceeding a year,” said Faith. The CEO is optimistic “there is more of a movement from Washington to invest in onshore semiconductor development,” he said. “We’re talking about tens of billions of dollars.” There's “a lot of additional research” being funded through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for “a blend of semiconductor technology” that’s “more scalable” for U.S. chipmakers to “adopt,” he said. “Couple those” with that “we have all of this deep domain expertise in programmable logic that dates back three decades,” he said. “There is a really good opportunity.”