Drought threatens chip production in Taiwan

In a fascinating story from Monday, Debby Wu, Samson Ellis, and Cindy Wang, of Bloomberg report on the connection between rain, drought, and the chipmaking business in Taiwan. Taiwan is experiencing its worst drought in over a half century and the lack of rain can have a significant impact on a water-intensive industry like chipmaking. A spokesperson, however, has assured the press that companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. have enough water on-hand to last until May. The threat of a slowdown or shutdown of semiconductor manufacturing comes as vehicle makers across the world already have had to slow their production from a lack of available conductors.