IT LOOKS LIKE the perfect time to be a chipmaker. The market for semiconductors continues to grow rapidly. By the end of the decade it will exceed $1trn globally, up from $500bn this year, forecasts VLSI Research, a firm of analysts. Demand keeps outstripping supply; the chip shortage is now expected to last well into 2023, paralysing factories of everything that needs processors—which in this day and age is basically everything. Western governments have earmarked billions to build chipmaking capacity within their borders in order to become less dependent on Asian suppliers. America alone is planning to spend $52bn over the next five years.
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