The electronic industry has been going through a bit of upheaval since the pandemic when the global chip shortage left its future up in the air. Adding to it, Taiwan officially opened up about the semiconductor shortage recently amidst rising tensions with the Chinese military. Some countries like India and the U.S. have agreed to step in with funding or production efforts. But it would do little to curtail the inflationary pressures that will soon be descending on us.
Naturally, the people who will face the brunt of this predicament are the end customers. Semiconductors are used in a wide range of products that surround our daily life. Everything from smartphones, PCs, digital cameras, TVs, and video game consoles to automobiles, LED bulbs, and refrigerators make use of it. Their dearth will be leading to price hikes for many of these gadgets we use daily in the following year. Word on the street is that if you wanted to invest in new electronic items, there is no time like the present. It would be prudent to utilize the offers that will be live at the end of the year because the same products are going to be priced much higher very soon.
There are several reasons for this scarcity and currently, many factors are making the situation worse. Their impact is going to be felt by more than 160 different sectors around the world. Over the last two years, the droughts in Taiwan, distribution chains being hit by the pandemic, and mounting conflicts in the American-Chinese relationship have all paved the way toward this adversity. Taiwan is home to the biggest production units of these chips in the world. With the receding of their operations, the entire world is in for a rocky year while switching out their old appliances for new ones.
