Chip famine

A chip famine is a phenomenon in the integrated circuit (chip) industry that appears approximately every four years where demand for silicon chips outstrips supply. An example was the shortage of smart card chips in 1999, another was during the rationing of other types of chips in 2004. [1]

Chip famines can have a major effect on the electronics industry where manufacturers can change their sourcing of chips and suffer major loss of profits, such as when PC manufacturer Gateway switched from Intel to AMD microprocessors in 2000 and issued a profit warning for Quarter 4. [2] Some manufacturers may find themselves having to redesign their products to take account of the shortage of certain chips, or have to leave design options open to allow alternative chips to be incorporated into the design. [3]
References

1 ^ "Printed Electronics: Chip famines (Glossary)". Printed Electronics World. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
2 ^ Magee, Mike (2000-01-06). "Gateway to use AMD because of Intel chip famine". The Register. Retrieved 2010-01-05.