Ignore chips at your own peril!

I have always loved saying this: Without semiconductors, we are dead!

- Pradeep Chakraborty

Chips have literally been the heart of everything today that runs on electronics. That's nearly 2/3rds of the world, or more! How could the global semiconductor industry continue to remain neglected by intelligent people, especially in the western world, for so long, is, by itself, a huge surprise!

I still remember the 'wicked' smirk on a gentleman's face - to whom I mentioned about the growth of TSMC, back in Hong Kong, 2000! I also recall several talks with China executives looking to sell their products in India, in 2004-2005, when at Global Sources!! I remember one of the very early ISA (IESA's original name) events in 2007, where a speaker talked about chip and system design in India. I know several of ISA's former leaders, have dropped out of the ecosystem. USA and Europe are now struggling to catch up with Asia. Can India afford to remain behind in this race for semiconductors?

The past two-three years have been ravaged by the pandemic. It led to the rude awakening of USA and Europe to the might of semiconductors! It also led to the growing awareness of the lack of semiconductors everywhere, except Asia, which was, and is the leader. We had the iconic picture of US President, Joe Biden, holding up a chip, proclaiming: We want chips!

Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President, in her State of the Union address in Feb. 2021, focused on semiconductors. She said: There is no digital without chips! And, while we speak, whole production lines are already working at reduced speed despite growing demand because of a shortage of semiconductors.”

Asian firms, largely from Taiwan and South Korea, have been outperforming the American firms and others by offering higher-quality chips at less cost via flow of smart ideas. Superior performance has now created the reality that Asia dominates in chips.