Gold made the panners of the California Gold Rush in the 19th century rich. Semiconductors are the equivalent of gold in 2021.Throughout most of this year, these silicon chips were worth their weight in gold, almost literally, as demand spiked and chipmakers struggled to produce enough of the precision-made silicon pieces to fulfil all their orders.
One only has to look back a few months to see news coverage of all sorts of products that are being hit by this shortage of chips. Samsung Electronics delayed its Galaxy Note smartphone to 2022, and carmakers like Audi and Nissan reported that they were forced to idle some factories as there was just not enough of the silicon to go around.
The shortage also caused prices of consumer products to spike, leading to unhappy customers who were unable to get their hands on flagship products like Sony Electronics’ Playstation 5 and graphics cards for their computers.
