Moov Technologies CEO and co-founder Steven Zhou explained on Tuesday how his company is able to help alleviate the semiconductor chip shortage.
The startup is an online marketplace that sells used semiconductor manufacturing parts and equipment, according to its website.
“Oftentimes companies, if they cannot either afford new equipment or they cannot afford to wait for new equipment, they need to come to the second-hand market to buy used equipment — and we are able to reduce that 1.5 to 2 year lead time to, oftentimes, a matter of days,” Zhou said during an interview that aired on “Varney & Co.” on Tuesday.
The company moved its headquarters from California to Arizona during the pandemic.
According to the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Zhou said he relocated the company’s headquarters from San Francisco to Phoenix because the cost of living is “much more favorable in Arizona,” explaining that the dollar “goes further in Arizona compared to the San Francisco Bay Area.”
He added that “the quality of talent is superb” in the region and that it is “very comparable to San Francisco and all the other major tech hubs in the nation.”
Zhou’s plan of action comes as the war in Ukraine has threatened to worsen an already concerning shortage in semiconductor chips.
The U.S. has suffered a semiconductor shortage that has contributed to supply chain disruptions and further ripples across the economy. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo reported in February that some companies’ supply fell from a month’s worth to just a few days’ worth, and recently the White House warned of “escalating vulnerabilities” to the U.S. due to the shortage.
Semiconductor chip supply is unlikely to be enough to fully satisfy demand again until 2024, a Volkswagen executive reportedly said last month.
Reuters reported that Volkswagen’s chief financial officer, Arno Antlitz, said that although bottlenecks would likely begin to ease towards the end of 2022, with production returning to 2019 levels in 2023, this would not be enough to meet increased demand for the chips.
Moov Technologies’ initiative to help alleviate the problem includes taking old machines with a lifespan of 20 years that might be sitting idle and making them available to new companies.
