Author: Tim Culpan

It was barely six months ago that the technology hardware sector looked quite immune to a global slowdown. That picture is now fading fast.

It’s been more than two years since Apple issued revenue guidance, a worrying trend towards decreasing transparency at the world’s largest company.

With the global chip shortage extending into its third year, the world’s number one player is looking stronger than ever.

Less than a week after CEO Parag Agrawal excitedly tweeted that the world’s richest man would get a seat, he’s now been forced to backpedal.

For all the talk about Intel’s entry into the chip foundry business, it’s easy to forget there’s another competitor plugging away in South Korea.

TSMC spent a record $30-billion last year on factories that churn out the world’s most advanced chips. It seems even that wasn’t enough.

Lobbyists for Samsung Electronics deserve to drink magnums of the finest champagne after pulling off a fabulous deal.

An extremely expensive game of one-upmanship is being played out in the semiconductor industry where the winners will look like heroes and the rest may not even survive.

The latest data from the world’s biggest chip maker hints that strong demand is beginning to look like industry stockpiling. That could be a massive problem.

Investors ought to be clamouring over GlobalFoundries’ $1-billion initial public offering. Except the company is struggling to make money in a chip boom.