TAIPEI, March 24 (Reuters) - Chip designer Broadcom ( AVGO )

said it is seeing supply chain constraints, including

capacity limits at its manufacturing partner TSMC,

highlighting the ripple effects of soaring demand for AI chips

on the broader tech industry.

"We are seeing that TSMC is hitting (production capacity)

limits," Natarajan Ramachandran, director of product marketing

in Broadcom's ( AVGO ) Physical Layer Products division, told reporters

on Tuesday, adding he would have described TSMC's capacity as

"infinite" until a few years ago.

"They will be increasing the capacity to 2027, but that has

become a bottleneck, or that has kind of choked the supply chain

in 2026," he said.

TSMC did not immediately reply to an emailed request for

comment.

The Taiwanese firm, the world's main producer of advanced AI

chips, said in January that capacity was tight, as the boom in

AI infrastructure buildout has soaked up much of its advanced

production lines.

The world's largest contract chipmaker, whose major

customers also include Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Apple ( AAPL ) - also

said at the time that it was working hard to narrow the gap

between supply and demand.

Broadcom's ( AVGO ) Ramachandran said supply constraints extend

beyond chips to various tech supply chains.

"Even though there are multiple suppliers in the industry

today ... there is definitely a supply constraint in the laser

space," he said, adding that printed circuit boards (PCBs) had

also emerged as an "unexpected" bottleneck.

Ramachandran said both Taiwanese and Chinese PCB suppliers

are facing capacity constraints, contributing to longer lead

times. He did not name the suppliers.

Many customers are now entering long-term agreements with

suppliers to secure capacity commitments for as long as three to

four years, he said.

The trend was underscored by memory chipmaker Samsung

Electronics ( SSNLF ), which said last week that it is working

with major customers to shift to longer contracts of

three-to-five years.

The move reflects customers' desire for longer-term supply

security and suppliers' efforts to guard against demand swings.