Why the world's microchip shortage is a problem

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Messenger Messenger WhatsApp Telegram Even as microchips have become essential in so many products, their development and manufacturing have come to be dominated by a small number of producers with limited capacityࢀ”and appetiteࢀ”for churning out the commodity chips that are a staple for todayࢀ™s technologies. And because making chips requires hundreds of manufacturing steps and months of production time, the semiconductor industry cannot quickly pivot to satisfy the pandemic-fueled surge in demand.à‚ After decades of fretting about how we will carve out features as small as a few nanometers on silicon wafers, the spirit of Mooreࢀ™s Lawࢀ”the…