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TAP TIMES       -9-                              MAY-JUNE 2022

              In the time of COVID (from 8)                     The virus and its multiple permutations

                                                                has been catastrophic for many industries,
        Suddenly, with much of the population                   including restaurants, travel  and leisure
        forbidden or unwilling to leave their homes             services. For some industries, includ-
        for work, computers, smartphones and                    ing semiconductors, however, COVID has
        other devices  — all semiconductor based                proven to be an unexpected boon.
        — have ecome an essential part of every-
        one’s daily armamentarium.                              In the first year of the virus, 2020, world-

                                                                wide semiconductor revenue grew 10.8
        Schools closed                                          percent to $464 billion, according to con-
        By mid-year 2020, most semiconductor                    sultant IDC.
        makers told a large number of their work-
        ers to do their jobs remotely, and schools              A time of shortages
        at all levels turned to remote instruction              The Corona virus brought with it shortages
        with apps such as Zoom.                                 in many commodity products users typi-
                                                                cally find on well-stocked shelves and sud-
        This meant computers — and lots of them                 den shortages in many semiconductors.
        — which in turn put pressure on suppliers
        of memory, particularly DRAM.  The re-                  With so many recent car models depen-
        sult sent unit shipments of the BIG THREE               dening on semiconductors for their Ad-
        memory makers — Samsung, SK hynix                       vanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
        both of South Korea and Boise, Idaho’s                  and car engine needs, chip suppliers heard
        Micron Technology — soaring.                                                                   next page
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