Why is the world running short on semiconductors?
Supply shortfalls from Taiwan are forcing carmakers and electronics firms to cut production and lay off workers.
Semiconductors are in almost every electronic item we use, from smartphones and computers to household appliances and cars.
But they are in short supply, as Taiwan supplies nearly 60 percent of the world’s chips.
Production has slowed down due to COVID-19 lockdowns and the island’s worst drought on record.
The car industry is badly affected, with carmakers shutting down factories and laying off workers.
China, the United States, and South Korea are pumping money into their semiconductor industries.
Can they catch up with Taiwan?
And could this race trigger geopolitical tensions?
Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom
Guests:
June Park – Political economist and an East Asia Voices Initiative Fellow at George Washington University
Jim Anderson – CEO of tech company SocialFlow
June Teufel Dreyer – Professor of political science at the University of Miami and editor of Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-Wen: Changes and Challenges