Asia chip windfall preludes tech’s next challenge

HONG KONG: Asia’s semiconductor windfall is a prelude to bigger challenges. Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics surged on hopes that Intel may outsource production. Still, $209 billion Intel’s woes show how costly it is to make cutting-edge chips.

Since announcing its next generation of processor chips were six months behind schedule last week, the U.S. technology firm led by Bob Swan has lost nearly a fifth of its market value. It’s an embarrassing delay and may result in the company losing market share to technology rivals like California-based Advanced Micro Devices.

Intel’s stumble will have ripple effects across Asia’s supply chains too. The company is one of the few that manufactures its semiconductors in-house, rather than outsource to a contract-chipmaker as AMD, Qualcomm and Apple do.