Global Chip Shortage

Today we are facing a global shortage of silicon chips on the market that can be used in various goods, from consumer electronics to cars. Computer chips, for all their amazing capabilities, are integral to any number of modern products. After all, even refrigerators have ‘brains’ in the 21st century.

Originally, the chip shortage mostly affected car manufacturers. The average modern car contains between 50 and 300 computer chips, while high-end vehicles can have over a thousand microchips providing a plethora of features to the automobile.

These days, most car manufacturers offer a wide variety of gasoline-powered and hybrid vehicles. These cars are designed with advanced features which allow owners to control everything from the vehicle’s performance to fuel efficiency, and even include features like satellite navigation.

The number of semiconductor requests spiked during Q1 2021 due to a worldwide shortage caused by pandemic-led supply chain disruptions. The US Government also imposed sanctions on China which may have added to the issue. To further exasperate the issue, the current chip manufacturing technology has a capacity of about 20 billion chips per year, In 2021, it’s estimated that the global demand will be around 200 billion chips per year.

Coldfusion made a really good video breaking down the global chip shortage issue. Let’s check it out!