There is currently a worldwide shortage of semiconductor chips, and cryptocurrency mining takes a significant share of the blame. In the past 2 years, with a majority of companies taking to remote working, the production aspect of consumer electronics has shifted. Video conferencing and streaming requirements reached new heights, and due to the same, the workload of data centres also grew rapidly.
Semiconductor chips, being essential in a majority of these electronic items and industries, began to see demands that could not be met adequately.
A few setbacks also stood in the way of the semiconductor industry. A huge power outage in Texas, which is a top semiconductor hub, affected the industry significantly. In addition, droughts in Taiwan and lockdown restrictions in Malaysia, both of which are leading semiconductor manufacturing hubs, have shaken up the market.
To add to all this, the unparalleled demand for cryptocurrency mining, which necessitates a lot of chip purchasing, is negatively affecting the sector. With more investors partaking, there is a bigger need to mine more coins, demanding high processor power, along with semiconductor volumes.
Reports about crypto mining’s negative impacts on energy have been out for quite some time now. In order to address these concerns, quite a few stakeholders have been figuring out ways in which they can reduce the huge energy dependency of the industry. A key player, Ethereum Foundation, is already well on its way to developing a mining process that reduces the energy costs of a single transaction by 99.95%. In addition, other players in the market created a Crypto Climate Accord in April in order to promote the decarbonization of the industry and work towards net-zero emissions by the year 2030.
Hopefully, the concerns can be addressed at the earliest, and the new developments in the economic sector do not further burden our planet’s resources.
