‘It seems trivial and insignificant, but this problem can cripple the technology sector.’
As the world experiences a food crisis as well as high inflation, the chip supply problem is expected to be resolved after the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in China received a new ‘blow’.
United States (US) Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, who recently visited South Korea to meet with leaders of chip-making companies has issued a warning that the semiconductor supply problem will linger.
According to him, the problem of shortage of chip supply that occurred last year is expected to last until the end of 2023 or early 2024 despite the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in China.
Still fresh is remembered in 2021 until early 2022 where the world experienced a shortage of chip supply due to the Covid-19 blockade, which crippled a number of tech giants.
Among the companies affected was Apple Inc which had to cut production of new iPhones because its supplier firm, Foxconn warned of a critical processing chip shortage.
In addition, electric car (EV) company Tesla is also seen experiencing the same problem, including the world's largest hardware chip company, Nvidia, which affected their first quarter (1Q) earnings report.
Although roughly the issue of shortage of semiconductor materials only contributes a small percentage to the company's performance, but the impact is large and can spill over to other technology-related sectors.
Meanwhile, Raimondo is seen continuing to urge Congress to approve legislative funding that could stimulate the production of domestic computer chips.
For the record, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have passed a US $ 52 billion bill (CHIPS Act and America COMPETES Act) to invest in domestic chip research and manufacturing, but have failed to reach final agreement to date.
The thing that worries Raimondo is that manufacturing companies like Samsung, Intel and Micron will build factories in other countries and the US will have to import chips from abroad.
