War in Ukraine: what impact on semiconductors?

Invaded by Russia since Thursday, Ukraine represents 90% of the production of neon, an essential gas in the production of semiconductors. On the Russian side, the country produces 35% of the world’s demand for palladium, a rare metal also found in processors and other components.

Already hard hit by the pandemic and rising prices for materials raw materials, the semi-components market could also be the collateral victim of the war in Ukraine, and create new problems in the supply chain. Reuters recalls that Ukraine is a major producer of neona gas which is an essential component for lasers used in the manufacture of chips.

According to estimates by the research company Techcet, Ukraine thus supplies more than 90% of the American neon of semiconductor quality. Furthermore, approximately 33% of palladiuma metal rare also used for semiconductors, comes from Russia. A large-scale conflict, in the duration as in its geographic scale, could curb exports of these items and hit giants like Intel hard, which gets about 50% of its neon from Eastern Europe, according to JPMorgan.

No shortage to expect

But, on the side of the industry of semiconductorsit is considered “unlikely” that the crisis in Ukraine exacerbate shortages. Russia is a small market for the industry lice or fleas and its invasion of Ukraine does not pose a threat to chip supply, the Semiconductor Industry Association said.

” Although the impact of the new sanctions on Russia significant, Russia is not a significant direct consumer of semiconductors, accounting for less than 0.1% of global chip purchasessaid John Neuffer, CEO of SIA, in a press release. Additionally, the semiconductor industry has a diverse set of suppliers of key materials and gases, so we do not believe there are any immediate supply disruption risks related to Russia and the United States. Ukraine. »

The annexation of Crimea had changed the game

Like ASML, which supplies machines to semiconductor makers from Intel and other IT giants like Samsung, the industry giants have diversified their suppliers since 2014 and annexation of Crimea by Russia. ” We do not foresee any impact on our supply chainannounces outright Intel. Our strategy of having a diverse and global supply chain minimizes our risk of potential local disruptions. »

Same story at GlobalFoundries Inc.., which has factories in upstate New York, Singapore and Dresden, Germany. ” We do not foresee any direct risk “said the company in a press release, which is pleased not to be dependent on suppliers from this region of the world.