Ukraine War Putting Additional ‘Pressure’ on Chips Supply Chain: Micron CEO

The global semiconductor supply chain is “experiencing pressure” due to the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, said Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra on an earnings call Tuesday for its fiscal Q2 ended March 3. “The region is an important source for the global supply of noble gases and other critical minerals that are used in semiconductor manufacturing.” Micron's fiscal Q2 mobile revenue grew 4% year over year to $1.9 billion as the 5G transition continues in smartphones, said Mehrotra. “We see some weakness in the China market as the local economy slows, smartphone market share shifts and some customers take a more prudent approach to inventory management,” he said. Demand for Micron’s mobile memory and storage solutions “continues to be supported by content-hungry applications and the ongoing transition from 4G to 5G, which is driving 50% higher DRAM content and the doubling of NAND content,” he said. Micron expects 700 million 5G smartphones will be shipped in calendar 2022, which would be a 40% increase from 2021, he said.