Computer chips are more important than oil and gas. So says Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel. Attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, CEO Gelsinger was interviewed by CNN and explained why computer chips are the defining technology of our time.

"Geopolitics has been defined for the past 50 years by where oil reserves are located. In the coming decades, it will be more important where the factories are located," says Gelsinger (open in new tab). Because every aspect of human existence is going digital."

Yes, those delightful little chips in PCs are the new geopolitical battleground.

He also emphasized how supply chain issues during the pandemic and after Russia's invasion of Ukraine are a huge wake-up call and demand immediate action. We need to move from "in between" to "just in case." We need resilience," he believes.

The most pressing problem, at least from the perspective of Western powers, is the current imbalance in chip production, especially with Asia and Taiwan dominating the market. Both the US and the EU are trying to address this problem through new policies and investment initiatives. But how "bad" is the chip supply imbalance?

Gelsinger recently stated that the U.S. and the EU combined could match Asian production within a decade. Currently, the US and EU account for 20% of global chip production, with China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan dominating the remaining 80% (opens in new tab).

Much of this shift is coming from Asian companies opening chip factories in the US and EU, such as TSMC's Arizona plant. Samsung and SK Hynix are also expanding their production capacity in the US.

In the EU, the European Commission has set a goal of doubling Europe's share of global production capacity from the current 10% to 20% by 2030.

But just as the US and EU are planning dramatic improvements in their chip production resources, so is Japan: according to Digitimes, Japan plans to increase its domestic manufacturing capacity from the current 40nm technology to 2nm by 2027.

The impact of all this on PC gaming is arguably pretty small beer. If anything, however, it should contribute to the steady improvement of gaming hardware. For example, the current situation where GPU progress is heavily dependent on a single Taiwanese company, TSMC, seems very precarious.

If cutting-edge chips can be knocked out in the US and EU, not only will supply be more reliable, but market competition will be healthier and prices may become a bit more manageable. Expectations.