Timeline What caused the semiconductor shortage?

TIMELINE

WHAT CAUSED THE SEMICONDUCTOR SHORTAGE?

The chip shortage is an ongoing global crisis that has seen integrated circuit demand massively outstip supply - a problem that continues to affect 169 industries

Early 2020

The pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic caused massive disruptions in supply chains and logistics. This was coupled with a 13% increase in global demand for PCs as people worked from home. Chips were suddenly unavailable for the manufacture of a broad range of products, including vehicles.

Summer 2021

Severe weather in Taiwan

Taiwan is the leading producer of chips, and severe droughts in the summer of 2021 affected output. The droughts affected production due to the lack of available ultrapure water that is needed to clean the silicon wafers used in microprocessors. Date or Number: 1970s

2021

Cryptocurrency sees chip demand soar

The increased use of cryptocurrencies requires a huge amount of data mining, all done with specialised computers. The high demand for cryptocurrency mining machines reduced the availability of chips for other uses.

September 2020

Trade war between US and China

As part of the economic conflict between China and the United States, the US Department of Commerce imposed restrictions on China's largest chip manufacturer, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), which made it harder for them to sell to companies with American ties

April 2022

Russia invades Ukraine

Neon is critical for the lasers used to make chips, and Ukraine's two leading suppliers of neon produce about half the world's supply . Both halted operations when Russia invaded, causing further disruptions to supplies of chips