U.S. Software from Cadence, Synopsys, and Mentor (Oregon / Germany) is used to design most chips. All chips are fabricated by either Samsung (South Korea) or TSMC (Taiwan), with the exception of Intel’s in house chips. Samsung and TSMC rely on EUV lighthography machines produced by ASML out of the Netherlands. ASML relies on the San Diego based Cymer which produces lithographic light sources which rely on a laser to pulverize tin droplets. Trumpf is a German laser company that produces the lasers for that Cymer1.
What’s important to realize here is that there are choke points (e.g. software or lasers) in the supply chain process. On top of that almost all fabrication is done in two countries that rely on American protection (Taiwan and South Korea).
During the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions in the silicon chip supply chain were blamed for a shortage of automobiles. In fact, the supply was not significantly disrupted with the industry producing more chips in 2021 than it had in 2020. Demand was the root cause, with the shift to Remote Work and Chinese stock piling. Auto shortages were the result of the auto industry cutting orders anticipating less demand and the supply shifting to other channels1.
1. Miller, C. Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology. (Scribner, New York, 2022).