Chipmaking is being redesigned. Effects will be far-reaching
The global semiconductor business is becoming at once more diverse and more concentrated. This brings opportunities—and risks
ON JANUARY 13TH Honda, a Japanese carmaker, said it had to shut its factory in Swindon, a town in southern England, for a while. Not because of Brexit, or workers sick with covid-19. The reason was a shortage of microchips. Other car firms are suffering, too. Volkswagen, which produces more vehicles than any other firm, has said it will make 100,000 fewer this quarter as a result. Like just about everything else these days—from banks to combine harvesters—cars cannot run without computers.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “A new architecture”
From the January 23rd 2021 edition
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