Read Bloomberg’s interactive and educational overview of semiconductor shortages

The global chip shortage has been a growing concern in the technology industry (and it has even caught the interest of the US President) as it begins to affect the production of more and more products, from cars to graphics cards to game consoles. For a good explanation of all the factors that have led to the deficiency, you should read Bloombergbreakdown. It digs into factors such as pandemic-driven demand and the small number of companies that are actually capable of producing the chips that now drive so much of our digital lives.

One of the most interesting features of the article is an interactive graphic showing the customers and industries using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which gives a good idea of ​​the scope and potential downstream effects of the production bottleneck when a company becomes a dominant force in the consumer electronics components pipeline . You̵

7;ll probably learn something new from playing with it – like the possibly surprising size of Texas Instruments, a company that many people mostly associate with calculators.

Image: Bloomberg

The article also dives into factors that are more unclear, but no less important, such as lead time and inventory planning. Despite the depth, it Bloomberg piece still manages to show the interplay between all the global events and companies involved with surprising clarity, which is why it is worth reading.