Hiding beneath the shiny surfaces of our mobile phones, games consoles and cars, computer chips work away unseen — yet we rely on them utterly to run the devices that make our daily lives possible. The pandemic has caused unprecedented swings in demand for these vital components. Lockdowns have brought a boom in sales of consumer electronics, while carmakers have had stop-start runs of production. When sales of vehicles unexpectedly revived in the second half of last year, chip manufacturers were unable to cope with the surge in demand. Already stretched supply chains were unable to respond in time.
在我們的智能手機(jī)、游戲機(jī)和汽車的光鮮表面之下，隱藏著計(jì)算機(jī)芯片。我們看不見它們?cè)趺垂ぷ?，卻完全依靠它們來(lái)運(yùn)行各種設(shè)備，使我們的日常生活成為可能。新冠疫情導(dǎo)致對(duì)這些重要組件的需求出現(xiàn)前所未有的波動(dòng)。封鎖帶來(lái)了消費(fèi)電子產(chǎn)品的銷售熱潮，而汽車制造商出現(xiàn)間歇式停產(chǎn)。去年下半年，當(dāng)汽車銷售意外復(fù)蘇時(shí)，芯片制造商無(wú)法應(yīng)對(duì)需求激增。已經(jīng)緊繃的供應(yīng)鏈無(wú)法及時(shí)做出回應(yīng)。