According to supply chain sources, the supply of Wi-Fi, Ethernet controllers and other network and communications chips is still far in short supply. The long lead time is difficult to improve in the short term, which will make suppliers busy competing for production capacity from foundries before the first half of 2022.

The source said that the market demand for the products of network equipment manufacturers is still strong, but the shortage of network and communications chips has affected their actual shipments.

In order to meet the needs of customers, MediaTek and Realtek both allocated more production capacity for network and communications chips and significantly increased the shipment rate of such chips in the fourth quarter. However, the source pointed out that unless market demand drops significantly, it will be difficult for them to shorten the lead time of network and communications chips in 2022.