The writer is author of ‘Chip War’
The world is poised to spend more money this year buying memory chips than soft drinks, shoes or smartphones. We’ll collectively allocate nearly 0.7 per cent of world GDP to purchase these chips — six times higher than the average of the past two decades.
This surge in demand is well known, but the numbers are still staggering. Over the past two decades, spending on semiconductors averaged 0.47 per cent of world GDP per year, of which a quarter was on memory chips — used to store data in devices, from phones to data centres. This year, total spend on semiconductors is projected at 1.25 per cent of the world economy, more than half of which will accrue to memory companies. Next year’s spend may exceed 1.5 per cent of global GDP — roughly three times higher than three years ago.