In 2021 graphics cards were hot stuff. Video-game devotees and cryptocurrency miners queued overnight to get their hands on the latest high-end offering from Nvidia or amd, two American chipmakers. And graphics processors were far from the only sizzling semiconductors. An acute shortage of chips disrupted the production of everything from smartphones to cars and missiles, just as demand for all manner of silicon-bearing devices boomed. Last year the chip industry’s revenues grew by a quarter, to $580bn, according to idc, a research firm. Chipmakers’ market values soared. tsmc, a giant Taiwanese contract manufacturer, became the world’s tenth-most-valuable company.
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