If you live outside the European Union, the situation between NATO, Ukraine and Russia may not keep you very alert. The reality is that the war that it could cause is, perfectly, the preamble to a third world war where there would be a key trigger for it if that were the case: the price of the materials for the chips that arrive from Russia and the Ukraine could rise to incredible limits already seen or above these. An increase of 600%?
A warning, a single warning has been enough to set off alarms in the face of what seems to be an imminent offensive by Russia on Ukraine and its consequences. And it is that if this warlike event occurs, the US, Europe and, to a lesser degree, China, would enter into a key material supply crisis for chips, where a new report reveals the depth we could see in just two days.
The price of chip materials in Russia and Ukraine
The White House has warned its companies on American soil: if Russia retaliates against US export restrictions, it could block access to key materials for chip manufacturing.
A Techcet report clarifies the landscape: many semiconductor manufacturers rely on materials of Russian and Ukrainian origin, which implies that the war over borders, missiles and control of a country has an even darker background.
The key is in the data. more than 90% of semiconductor neon supplies arriving in the United States come from Ukraine, while 35% of a material as scarce as Palladium comes from Russia. An undisclosed source commented on the talks between the chipmakers and the Biden administration:
“Part of that is working with companies to make sure that if Russia takes action that interferes with supply chains, companies are prepared for interruptions. We understand that there are other sources of key products available and we stand ready to work with our companies to help them identify and diversify their supplies.”
An accompanying document from the Biden administration stated that with respect to Russian/Ukrainian production of palladium, helium, neon, and scandium, the companies involved should advise authorities of potential supply disruptions if they believe they may be of concern to the public. your company.
manufacture and price
As far as we know, neon is critical to certain chip manufacturing scanners, which hit Europe much harder for ASML, and it comes from Russian steel manufacturing waste that eventually ends up in the Ukraine to be purified and shipped to the US. USA and our continent. Palladium is used in smartphone sensors (iPhone) and memories (Micron, Intel, Kingston, WD), so the problem that this generates should not be said.
The problem is serious, but not a debacle for the sector. When Russia annexed Crimea in the conflict against Ukraine, something similar was experienced back in 2014, where neon prices rose almost 600%.
The conflict that lies in wait for us today is much greater and what is certain is that if there are new movements the price will begin to rise and this will be exported to chips, where the companies mentioned along with NVIDIA and AMD (Asia also depends on Russian materials , although to a lesser extent than the West) will see this fact reflected in the chip materials coming out of the Ukraine and Russia.
