The big winners so far have been Taiwan and South Korea, thanks to local chip makers such as TSMC and Samsung. Microsoft may soon follow Apple in abandoning Intel, underscoring the central role that chips and semiconductors play as the building blocks in todays economy. The ongoing shortage of chips worldwide, which is causing disruption to a range of industries, notably consumer electronics and vehicle manufacturing, has made them the resource that increasingly defines countries competitiveness. Intels big failure, which last July confessed its incapacity to manufacture chips with seven-nanometer technology, triggering, among other things, Apples decision to start using its own microprocessors, left the US in a very bad place: the United States produced 37% of the worlds microprocessors in 1990, but that proportion now stands at just 12%, leaving the US industry vulnerable. And as with companies, so with countries: nations unable to develop clear strategic lines and priorities for research, development and supply of chips for their industries will necessarily have to depend on third parties and accept their rules and priorities.
Microsoft research made an unannounced research acquisition.
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Microsoft research made an unannounced research acquisition .
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