The godfather, $700 billion, and a crazy game of chicken

Global investors are in for a treat. 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.

All told, more than $700 billion has been pledged over the next decade to expand production capacity for the chips that run smartphones, power data centers, and one day will drive cars. Samsung Electronics Co. is the latest show its hand, reporting third-quarter numbers that put it on track to post record spending for 2021 and setting it up for even more next year. In August the South Korean giant said it will bring forward plans to invest $150 billion on advanced chipmaking, joining Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Intel Corp., Micron Technology Inc. and SK Hynix Inc. in a massive gamble that the world’s appetite for electronics will continue unabated. By comparison, those five companies shelled out just $70 billion in 2018.