The global chip shortage’s cause has been found — it boils down to one company, says report
The maker of your calculator could also be the maker of a worldwide technology crisis.
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What you need to know
In the event you’ve attempted tobuy a car, one of thebest graphics cards, or just about any high-tech toy or smart appliance in between, you’ve likely noticed the scarcity of supply and high prices floating around. These circumstances didn’t arise from thin air; they’re the result of a global chip shortage that’s slowing production pipelines and supply chains throughout the world across a bevy of industries. And now, a few Taiwan-based companies are calling out the entity they’ve identified as the root cause of it all.
As reported byDigiTimes, some Taiwan-based tech manufacturers — think smartphones, PCs, and related gadgetry — have singled out Texas Instruments as being at the epicenter of the chip shortage’s widespread production pandemonium (viaWinFuture). In case the name “Texas Instruments” sounds familiar to you, that’s because you very well may have used one of its calculators in your lifetime. That’s the company being accused of having a vice grip on global technology output.
This accusation is based on the fact that Texas Instruments manufactures analog chips that are essential for duties such as PC voltage regulation. Said chips are a fundamental part of much computing technology, and are in a more dire supply situation than the advanced, specialized chips the likes ofTSMCand co. produce.
The aforementioned Taiwan-based sources say Texas Instruments' inability to ramp up production capacity is the fundamental problem underpinning everything else. The question now is whether this supposed culprit identification will have any impact on theU.S. government’s shortage-combatting plans.
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Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He’s a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author ofCold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.
