Global semiconductor hubs
Topic: Secondary Activities: Manufacturing and Industrial Location · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Semiconductors, or chips, are the tiny electronic parts inside phones, cars and computers. Only a few places in the world make the most advanced ones. Taiwan leads, mainly through TSMC. South Korea (Samsung, SK Hynix), the US and Japan come next, and the Netherlands (ASML) supplies the machines used to print chips. Because so much depends on so few places, especially across the Taiwan Strait, chips have become a geopolitical risk. Countries have responded with the US CHIPS and Science Act (2022), the EU Chips Act (2023) and the India Semiconductor Mission (2021).
Example
Hsinchu in north-western Taiwan is the home of TSMC, which also has plants at Tainan. Together they make most of the world's leading-edge chips. In India, Micron is building a chip assembly and test plant at Sanand in Gujarat, and a Tata-PSMC chip factory is coming up at Dholera, also in Gujarat (verify current).
Don't confuse with
- Silicon Valley: Silicon Valley is mainly a cluster of design, research and technology companies in California. It is not the main place where advanced chips are made today.
Related concepts
- High-tech industry
- White-collar and blue-collar workers
- Computer-aided design
- Technopolis
- Silicon Valley
- Silicon Forest