Chips down

Since the pandemic, and arguably even before, journalists and politicians have been exercised by a growing shortage in semiconductors. That’s as true as anywhere in the medical device industry, with manufacturers warning that supply issues could soon impact production. But in the shadow of aggressive government plans to address the shortfall, is the scale of the global chip drought exaggerated? Andrea Valentino talks to Robert Lewis, a senior international consultant at Chance Bridge Partners, to explore the importance of chips to the global economy, what the US and other Western powers are doing to secure semiconductors in the years ahead – and whether leaving the whole system to the free market may be more sensible.