Nokia CEO Lundmark flags chip shortage risks to telecom

The shortage has particularly hit the automakers and is now spreading to other industries. With every company that uses chips in production panic buying to shore up stocks, the shortage has squeezed capacity and driven up prices.

Nokia CEO Lundmark flags chip shortage risks to telecom.

(Subscribe to our Today's Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of top 5 tech stories. Click here to subscribe for free.)

A global shortage of semiconductor chips is yet to have a material impact on Nokia but the Finnish firm has to wait longer for supplies, sometimes several months, Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark said on Thursday.

The shortage has particularly hit the automakers and is now spreading to other industries. With every company that uses chips in production panic buying to shore up stocks, the shortage has squeezed capacity and driven up prices.

Global semiconductor shortage spurs run on vintage chipmaking tools

"It would be naive for anyone to say that this would not be a serious shortage, and most likely it will continue for another year or even two years," Lundmark told Reuters.

Nokia, which on Thursday posted better-than-expected quarterly results, said the impact so far has been limited and the assessment of the semiconductor situation was included in its full-year forecast.

"We are in constant daily discussions with our suppliers and what makes me optimistic about the real world situation is the fact that we see that we are important to the suppliers," he said.