DIVERTING CAPACITY

Fab plants diverting capacity from high nanometer to state-ofthe-art lower nanometer chips, creating shortage of processors for affordable 4G phones

Capacity being shifted to support chips needed for 5G that offer higher revenues and margins

Shortage not limited to chipsets but a range of microprocessors and memory required for a phone

Homegrown mobile device players say they are not getting more than 50% of their chip requirement

Prices of chips in the grey market or with traders are at a premium of over 20%, squeezing margins