Why the world is short of computer chips, and why it matters

Carmakers slashed production. PlayStations got harder to find in stores. Broadband providers faced months-long delays for internet routers. All of these phenomena and more had a similar cause: an abrupt and cascading shortage of semiconductors.

Stockpiling: PC makers began warning about tight supplies early in 2020. Then around the middle of that year, Huawei Technologies — the Chinese smartphone maker that also dominates the global market for 5G networking gear — began building up inventory to ensure it could survive US sanctions that were set to cut it off from its primary suppliers.

Samsung dominates in memory chips and is trying to muscle in on TSMC’s gold mine. It’s been improving its production technology and winning new orders from companies such as Qualcomm and Nvidia. Samsung is earmarking about US$151 billion for a decade-long project to catch its Taiwanese rival, part of a broader plan by South Korean companies including SK Hynix to spend roughly US$450 billion to build the world’s largest chipmaking base.

The facility could begin production by 2022 and eventually churn out each year about half a million 12-inch wafers, which are used to fabricate chips. By comparison, TSMC shipped about 12.4 million such wafers in 2020.WHAT ABOUT OUTSIDE ASIA?

I beg to differ. US government interference in the semiconductor and chip production industry is the only driving force that caused the current bottleneck. Other factors as mentioned in the article are merely the consequences of it.

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