Wednesday, September 8, 2021

The real semiconductor crisis


I recently linked to a short Bloomberg documentary on YouTube about the semiconductor crisis. The short form is that the world economy is dependent on top quality semiconductors produced in Taiwan, which has a near-monopoly on production. Supposedly due to the COVID pandemic, there is now a severe shortage of semiconductors, affecting the car industry the world over, to mention just one example. The US military also uses microchips from good ol´ Free China.

Now it turns out that there might be *another* reason for the semiconductor shortage. Yes, it´s climate change! There is a water shortage on Taiwan due to bad weather, and the foundries making the damn chips need a lot of water...

This makes me wonder about the People´s Republic of China and their attempts to build up a sophisticated semiconductor industry all their own. Presumably they have the water situation covered...or no? 

No Water No Microchips: What is happening in Taiwan?

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