2020–2023 global chip shortage

[2][3][4] From early 2020, the effects of and the mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions in supply chains and logistics which, coupled with a 13% increase in global demand for PCs owing to some countries' shift to a stay-at-home economy,[5] impacted the availability of key chips necessary for the manufacturing of a broad range of electronics.

The droughts threatened to affect the production due to the lack of available ultrapure water that is needed to clean the factories and wafers.

[14][15] The global chip crisis was due to a combination of different events described as a perfect storm[16][17][18] with the snowball effect of the COVID-19 pandemic being the primary reason for accelerating shortages.

As a result, the shares of major Asian chipmaker companies slumped during the reopening of stock markets in Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea after public holidays.

[34] The increased use of proof-of-work cryptocurrencies led to a large amount of mining, done primarily with general-purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs).

[35] A severe winter storm in February 2021 forced the closure of three plants in Austin, Texas, owned by Samsung, Infineon, and NXP Semiconductors, due to loss of electricity.

[37] In 2021, Taiwan experienced its worst drought in more than half a century,[38] leading to problems among chip manufacturers that use large amounts of ultra-pure water to clean their factories and wafers.

[41] The price of neon, a noble gas needed for lasers in chip manufacture, increased sixfold between December 2021 and March 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine.

[42] The supply of neon was severely constrained by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sparking fears that the conflict could worsen the chip shortage.

[53][54] At the start of the pandemic, car manufacturers incorrectly predicted that sales would drop, canceled chip orders, and were unprepared to meet demand.

[50] Ford parked thousands of unfinished vehicles at Kentucky Speedway as the company waited for chips to finish assembling those cars.

[62] The two main manufacturers of CPU chips, AMD and Intel, have struggled to keep up with the rising demand of their products as a result of the global pandemic.

[76] During the COVID-19 pandemic, cinemas and theaters were closed to prevent the spread of the virus, leading many people to turn to home entertainment during periods of self-isolation,[77] which increased the demand for video game consoles.

[84] On February 24, 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order trying to address the chip shortage by reviewing options to strengthen the semiconductor supply chain.

[85] Later in April, CEOs of major technology companies and U.S. government officials attended a virtual summit with the White House to talk about improving the resilience of the semiconductor supply chain.

This restriction will impact 23 types of tools used in semiconductor production, ranging from immersion lithography machines to silicon wafer cleaners.

[34] On 6 September 2024, The Dutch government expanded export licensing for ASML's chipmaking equipment, aligning with U.S. efforts to restrict China's access to advanced technology.

[98] On July 22, 2021, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said he expects the chip shortage will get worse in the second half of 2021 and that it will be a year or two before supplies return to normal.

[100] However, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said on October 11 that any prediction of a resolution to the chip shortage by the end of 2022 is optimistic, and that he sees it "more likely" that the issue will not be fully solved until 2023 or 2024.

[104] Already in May 2020, TSMC announced its US$12 billion plan to build and operate a semiconductor fab in Arizona, their second manufacturing site in the United States.

[123][124] On September 20, 2021, the CEO of U.S. automaker General Motors, Mary Barra, said that the chip shortage has forced a supply chain rethink.

[125] In February 2023, General Motors reached a deal with chipmaker GlobalFoundries to dedicate part of an upstate New York factory to supply the automaker and avoid future chip shortage disruptions.

[129][130] On November 29, 2021, Nissan CEO, Makoto Uchida, told the BBC it was too early to say when normal deliveries of microchips, and therefore finished cars, would resume.