$GTCH The following excerpt from a Bloomberg piece
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Uncertainties caused by the pandemic also led to sharp swings in orders last year [2020], which in turn muddied the waters for chipmakers trying to match capacity with demand. That's why carmakers have had to halt production in 2021 and why Playstations and Xboxes are getting harder to find in stores.
Rittman talked about the increasing trend for firms to design their own chips, as a means to maintain exclusivity on their intellectual property (IP).
"Companies today tend to try to keep their IP in house, so it's much better to design your own chip and outsource less," Rittman said. "The microchips of today are getting more proprietary, and IP is often kept confidential because companies don't want their IP to be duplicated or stolen."
"Of course, on a general basis companies will sometimes want to just buy to shorten the design time. So they'll definitely continue to buy a USB unit or HDMI unit [for instance] to plug and play and shorten the design. But I do see that proprietary design parts will probably from now on be more confidential and done in house."
But while many companies take on the responsibility of chip design, the actual manufacturing of chips takes place in a handful of major foundries located mainly in Taiwan and South Korea. Recently, chip making giant Intel Corporation announced that it will invest more than $20 billion in the construction of two new leading-edge chip factories in Ohio in a bid to "establish a new epicenter for advanced chipmaking in the Midwest." Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, commented:
"Today's investment marks another significant way Intel is leading the effort to restore U.S. semiconductor manufacturing leadership. Intel's actions will help build a more resilient supply chain and ensure reliable access to advanced semiconductors for years to come. Intel is bringing leading capability and capacity back to the United States to strengthen the global semiconductor industry. These factories will create a new epicenter for advanced chipmaking in the U.S. that will bolster Intel's domestic lab-to-fab pipeline and strengthen Ohio's leadership in research and high tech."
https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/22/01/...atures-for