Despite supply chain challenges, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets said he is constructive on the semiconductor cycle. Here’s why. Strong Demand Persists Fourth-quarter IC unit shipments increased 15 percent year-over-year, slower than the third quarter’s 15 percent growth but much faster than the five-year, fourth-quarter average of 9 percent, analyst John Vinh said in a note. The analyst highlighted auto, industrials and cloud data center as subsectors seeing strong growth. Enterprise and 5G deployments excluding China are picking up, he added. “With broad-based demand remaining healthy and modest improvements in incremental capacity, we expect better-than-seasonal modest sequential growth in 1Q22,” Vinh said. Are Higher Inventories the New Normal? An aggregate inventory of 68 days is above the five-year average, Vinh said. This represents the “new normal” as customers look to hold higher targeted levels of inventory to insulate themselves from supply chain disruptions, he said. The increase also reflects bill-of-materials kitting issues, the …