The Chip Crisis: will the shortage of computer chips cause the next geopolitical crisis?
In partnership with Huawei
The global shortage in computer chips has reached a crisis point: leading to product shortages from TVs to mobile phones to cars, and leaving consumers facing price rises. Thanks to Covid-19, chip factories in Asia shut down at the same time as demand soared for chip-dependent devices like TVs and games consoles. But the shortages have been exacerbated by politics – and tensions are high. US restrictions on Chinese companies are impacting suppliers in Taiwan and elsewhere. Companies around the world are panic stockpiling to avoid the supply chain uncertainty. As global superpowers race to achieve semiconductor independence, could the chip wars deepen geopolitical tensions yet further?
Editor:
Alexi Mostrous
Investigations Editor
Invited guests:
Jeremy Thompson
Executive Vice President, Huawei UK
Professor Rana Mitter
Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China,
University of Oxford
Daphné Leprince-Ringuet
Technology reporter, ZDNet, the leading global tech news site. She was previously at Wired
Prof Jo Shien Ng
Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, The University of Sheffield
