Ever since April 2021, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) expected chip shortages to last until 2022. But in a recent Wall Street Journal report, the company predicted that more silicon will be supplied to electronics businesses this quarter as it accelerated its auto chip production efforts. 

An inexpensive chip that costs hardly a few dollars has led to billions of dollars worth of losses for major companies across the globe. An acute shortage of semiconductors chips — used for manufacturing several goods including electronic products, vehicles, smartphones and other gadgets — has led to losses despite rising demand for such goods.

The semiconductor shortage has been raging since the beginning of the year. The lack of chips on the market has spurred a huge influx of fake electronic components. According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), businesses in desperate need of semiconductors are reaching out to bad actors for parts, but are finding that when they get them, they do not work.

Supply chain stories aren’t sexy. Maybe that’s why the dangerously fragile, technologically lagging American defense electronics supply chain isn’t registering on the national security risk meter. But it should. The U.S. is facing shortages and security vulnerabilities with printed circuit boards and integrated circuit substrates crucial to the sexiest weapons systems we have.

News on the global chips and components shortage has been doing the rounds from the last couple of months and the consequence of the shortage is now being felt by every link in the supply chain.

America’s Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has hailed the introduction in Congress of the Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors (FABS) Act. The Act is bipartisan legislation that would establish an investment tax credit to incentivise greater chip manufacturing in the US.

While the shortage of semiconductors has garnered intense attention lately, other risks and potential disruptions are lurking in the U.S. defense electronics supply chain. These include a dangerous reliance on foreign sources for key raw materials and components; a growing gap between the U.S. and other nations when it comes to manufacturing capabilities; and a chronic shortage of skilled workers.

FORT WORTH, Texas – While U.S. electronics manufacturing is starting to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, aerospace and defense systems designers are confronting new market conditions that are making the defense electronics supply chain perhaps as difficult as it was during the depths of the pandemic.

June 21, 2021 - Semiconductors have become so ubiquitous that it is easy to take them for granted until they are suddenly in short supply. Recent changes in global market demand for semiconductors has increased dramatically at a time when the world is moving towards technical innovations in renewable energy, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence.

The U.S. and Russia have just agreed to “consultation” on cybersecurity as America moves to shore up its defense supply chain. The electronics industry is concerned, however, that security efforts will reduce the number of suppliers available to the Defense Department.