What is silicon, and what are its uses?
Silicon is the second most [[abundantly::In large amounts; existing or occurring in great quantity.]] available [[element::A pure substance made up of only one type of atom that cannot be broken down into simpler substances.]] on Earth after oxygen. It is known for its widespread availability and [[semiconductor::A material that can conduct electricity under certain conditions, often used in electronic devices like computers and phones.]] properties. This makes it an ideal raw material for the preparation of microchips. These microchips act as the brain of computers found in electronics around us, such as aircraft, cars, and tablets.
Why is there a shortage of silicon?
Manufacturing silicon microchips is a very sensitive and delicate process. Each factory manufacturing these microchips costs billions of dollars. COVID lockdowns around the world shut down factories that manufactured microchips.
While supply was less, demand for electronics (with microchips) increased due to people working from home, students attending online classes, etc.
Since people were staying at home, car manufacturers [[anticipated::Expected or looked forward to; something predicted to happen in the future.]] a fall in demand and cancelled orders of microchips. Microchip manufacturers changed their tools to manufacture chips for electronics that were high in demand. There was a shortage of microchips when the demand by car manufacturers suddenly rose after the lockdown ended.
There are only a few factories in the world where microchips are made. This is because the process to manufacture them is very difficult.
Some of these factories met with unfortunate events: (i) a factory in Japan caught fire; (ii) storms in Texas, United States forced factories to shut down; and (iii) a [[drought::A long period with little or no rainfall, leading to a shortage of water.]] in Taiwan, one of the world’s largest microchip manufacturers, slowed down production since making microchips requires lots of water.
Due to these reasons, microchip manufacturers were unable to meet the demand for microchips, leading to a shortage.
What is the impact of silicon shortage?
Due to the worldwide shortage of microchips, their price is likely to increase. This means that electronics will get more expensive. The availability of electronics will also decrease.
Apple recently announced that the microchip shortage is expected to delay the production of iPhones and is already impacting sales of iPads and Macs. Gaming consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation are also running in short supply due to this reason.
Countries across the world are asking microchip manufacturers to help them manufacture microchips. Experts expect that supply will catch up with demand by 2023, ending the microchip shortage.
Quick revision
Silicon’s wide availability and semiconductor properties make it ideal to use in the manufacture of microchips used in computers.
Microchip factories shutting down due to COVID-19, car manufacturers cancelling orders, and unexpected events led to a shortage of microchips.
Many companies are unable to sell their products due to a shortage of microchips. The shortage will end by 2023.Quick revision
