On the horizon: A semiconductor war

As a global shortage of semiconductor looms, it would make sense for India to focus on chip design rather than manufacturing

The technology war between the US and China is largely a battle over semiconductors. Semiconductors or chips/integrated circuits(ICs) are the lifeblood of all digital products and digitalisation. They are embedded in every product possible and their penetration is only rising. Just to give context, a simple MacBook today will have over 16 billion transistors compared to tens of thousands in the Apollo lunar module, which landed on the moon in 1969. With the advent of 5G, expect chips to be embedded into every product as connectivity becomes all pervasive. An electric vehicle will have 3-5 times the number of chips