A recent article in the Wall Street Journal details the rise in chip inventories well above the scarcity of the past couple years. Indeed, lead times are higher than some years before the pandemic and supply chain crisis.

Lead times between chip orders and deliveries that swelled early in the pandemic have fallen in recent months, according to an analysis by Susquehanna International Group LLP. Inventory levels, typically measured in days, are at their highest levels in more than a decade, or about 40 days above the median for the chip industry and its supply chain, according to a UBS analysis.

This being said, this seems to be a short term boon to stock levels and the trend will almost certainly be increasing demand over time.

…chip executives are preparing for a long-term rise in demand for chips that will require them to build more factories. Industry executives expect chip sales to roughly double by 2030, surpassing $1 trillion globally. Micron is planning a facility in upstate New York that could cost as much as $100 billion and would be partially funded by new U.S. chip-manufacturing incentives.

What we are seeing here and likely more of, is a volatile market, where demand is hard to predict, and inventory is hard to match. Read the whole article at WSJ for more details on the story.