Qualcomm CEO says shortage of older chips likely to ease sooner

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc CEO Steve Mollenkopf said he is "seeing improvement" in efforts to ease chip shortages that have caused disruptions across several industries, and that demand for older chips is easier to respond to.

Demand has soared for chips in recent months, with panic buying further squeezing capacity and driving up costs of even the cheapest components of nearly all microchips.

"There's an ability for the market to respond more quickly to some of the older nodes than the newer nodes, so depending on the product, you may be in a position to get some improvement," Mollenkopf said, speaking via videolink at the China Development Forum in Beijing on Saturday.

Speaking in the same panel, president and CEO of Micron Technology Inc Sanjay Mehrotra said the chipmaker would aim to increase its supply in line with the growing demand for the company's products.

(Reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Kim Coghill)