There’s A “Chip“ Shortage: And TSMC Holds All The Cards

There’s A “Chip“ Shortage: And TSMC Holds All The Cards

Share to Linkedin ABC News ran a 20/20 special on the shortage called "Nuts for Nintendo." They chatted to one dad who drove 1, 000 miles from Indiana to NYC in the hopes of grabbing a copy. "I've tried 7 stores a day for 3 weeks and still can't find it," he told reporters. They called it a "chip famine." Why was it so hard to get your hands on a video game? Longtime RiskHedge readers know computer chips, also called semiconductors, are the "brains" of electronics. There would be no iPhone, Amazon Webstore, or online messaging apps without them. Semiconductors were also a key part in those old bulky Nintendo game cartridges you may remember from the '80s and '90s. And they were in short supply in 1988. They were so scarce, employees in chip factories across Japan had to cancel vacations and work around the clock. In short, this capped the number of video games Nintendo could physically make. Japanese carmaker Toyota shut its factory in San Antonio last month. GM, Volkswagen, Ford, Honda and Fiat Chrysler were forced to idle their plants too. In fact, GM said assembly lines won't restart until late March. This wasn't due