When it comes to audio, it didn't help that AKM had a factory go up in flames[1], completely destroying most of it. It seems they've managed to shift production of some popular ADCs and DACs to other manufacturers[2] recently.

As for other chips, part of it is the toilet paper effect. From what I've heard, companies are buying 5x or 10x what they normally buy, just to be sure they got parts for production. Since the situation is still bad, I'm guessing people are still doing it.

Especially ICs are made in batches, so once it runs dry the manufacturer can't just print out another 10k units, they got other stuff lined up. I see for STM32s a lot of stock is expected at the end of this year or first half of next year, which lines up with what their CEO said that things will start stabilizing at the start of next year.

I'm just a hobbyist who knows a few EEs though, so might be wrong. But this is my impression.

[1]: https://www.audioholics.com/news/fire-destroys-akm-audio-chi...

[2]: https://www.strata-gee.com/akm-responds-to-strata-gee-reques...