Global electronics industry at threat from semiconductor supply chain risks

• Second joint report in ‘Rethinking supply chains’ series - ‘Loose connections: Rethinking semiconductor supply chains’ – highlights macro challenges for the $600bn industry, the risk maturity, and the growing interest in getting ahead of their supply chain risks
• The report aims to raise the insurance industry’s understanding of the semiconductor sector and increase awareness, availability, and uptake of supply chain risk solutions by clients
• Analysis is based on the surveys and interviews of over 140 risk, supply chain, and insurance practitioners across North America, APAC, LATAM and Europe, to understand the specific needs of the semiconductor industry
• The report follows on from: From farm to fork: Rethinking food and drink supply chains, which recommended three steps to advance the insurance industry’s supply chain risk solutions:
  • Explore product innovation opportunities
  • Enhance data sharing across supply chains
  • Increase communications between supplier and insurer

Lloyd’s, the world’s leading marketplace for commercial, corporate and specialty risk solutions has today published a report on the risks to semiconductor supply chains - an industry estimated to have a market value of nearly $600bn and supporting a $2.2trn electronics sector that in turn drives almost $90trn of global GDP.

Semiconductors are the chips that enable the electronics industry and are found in vehicles, mobile phones, medical technology and even power the clean energy solutions being used to enable a sustainable future, such as solar and wind farms. Due to the complex and global nature of the sector, it is subject to a multitude of risks including geopolitical tensions, earthquakes, and extreme weather, with manufacturing plants predominately located in East Asia.

The report: Loose connections: Rethinking semiconductor supply is the second in a series of three exploring supply chain risk, delivered in collaboration with WTW.

The report finds that the sector is most concerned by the medium-term risk landscape, which is where significant scope exists for increased collaboration between the industry and their insurers to address protection gaps. Of survey respondents in WTW’s Global Supply Chain Survey, 81% said a lack of insurance solutions was among the greatest challenges in the medium term, sending a clear signal to insurers that the industry requires partnership to transfer risk.

Those interviewed also highlighted eight key supply chain risk drivers: economic pressures, supply and demand changes, talent and labor, raw materials and components, technology, packaging and transport, regulatory/geopolitical/political risks and climate change and sustainability.

These risk drivers matched those of the food and drink industry, which favoured end-to-end supply chain coverage. In contrast, the semiconductor industry recognised large financial exposures in their supply chains which traditional risk transfer cannot currently meet, and so favoured risk transfer at key moments in their chain.

By adopting a customer centric view of risk, the semiconductor industry could act as an example of a resilient, digitalised supply chain in a connected world – with data and tailored insurance solutions used to supplement businesses’ retained risk.