First, with trade sanctions, and now with the global pandemic, the demand for semiconductors has been steadily surging beyond available capacity. In 2021, the surge has culminated with a shortage that has brought numerous industries to its knees by a tiny, yet ubiquitous, electronic product. In this report, we highlight datasets for readers hoping to navigate this global chip shortage and gain insight into the current state of the semiconductor industry.

1. EMPLOYEE & FACILITY ACTIVITY

To monitor semiconductor manufacturing, readers can track facility activity as a proxy of production. Specifically, using geospatial data, one can investigate: 1) the number of semiconductor manufacturing plants that are active, and 2) the number of employees working at said plants at a given point in time as an indicator of production.