Chinese legacy chipmakers and silicon producers are hitting the global market hard, and Western competitors are struggling to keep up with the intense supply and low prices. Industry speculators are predicting a "China shock" for chipmaking, and some companies already feel the squeeze.
The production of mature process nodes, typically above 20nm, is the lifeblood of chip manufacturers outside the bleeding edge. Legacy nodes largely power consumer electronics and automotive use cases, and the production of these older nodes and the silicon wafers that create them provide valuable profit streams for funding R&D departments across the chip industry.
