快，点击上方
蓝字
关注并置顶
这
个公众号，一起涨姿势～
这篇文章比之前推送的文章更加详细、全面地阐述了当前全球芯片短缺的原因，值得一看。
Xiaomi
is
also coming from a position of strength in its core business: It was the world’s third-largest smartphone maker in late 2020 （after taking market share from
troubled
rival Huawei）.
小米在核心业务上也是处于优势地位：在从陷入困境的竞争对手华为手中夺取部分市场份额后，到2020年末，小米已成为全球第三大智能手机制造商。
1.position：the situation that sb is in, especially when it affects what they can and cannot do
to be in a position of power/ strength/ authority 可以积累一下
3月份以来，除了蔚来汽车停产、特斯拉涨价，还有多家跨国车企由于半导体供应紧张，暂停部分工厂生产计划。全球汽车芯片短缺加剧的原因是什么？
The stay-at-home era caused by the coronavirus pushed demand beyond levels projected by chipmakers. Lockdowns spurred growth in sales of laptops to its highest in a decade. Home-networking gear,
webcams
and monitors were
snapped up
as office work moved out of the office, and Chromebooks as school left school. Sales also jumped for home appliances from TVs to air purifiers, all of which now come with customized chips.
新冠病毒引发了“宅在家”时代，将芯片需求推高到超出芯片制造商预期水平的状态。封锁促使笔记本电脑销量增长至10年来的最高水平。随着办公室工作搬出办公室，电子网络设备、网络摄像头和监控器被抢购一空，而在学校封闭时，Chrome笔记本也被抢购一空。从电视机到空气净化器等家用电器的价格也大幅上涨，现在所有这些产品都配有定制芯片。
Uncertainties caused by the pandemic led to sharp swings in orders. Automakers that
cut back
drastically
in the early days of the outbreak underestimated how quickly sales would rebound. They rushed late last year to
re-up orders
, only to get turned away because chipmakers are stretched supplying smartphone giants like Apple Inc.
疫情带来的不确定性导致订单急剧波动。在疫情爆发初期销量大幅削减的汽车制造商低估了销量反弹的速度。去年年底，他们焦急地重新追加订单，结果却被拒绝了，因为芯片制造商正忙着为苹果等智能手机巨头供货。
TSMC executives said in recent earnings calls that customers have been accumulating more inventory than usual as a hedge. PC makers began warning about tight supply of semiconductors early in 2020.
Then by mid-year, Huawei Technologies Co. -- a major smartphone and networking gear maker -- began
hoarding
components to ensure its survival from U.S. sanctions that threatened to cut it off from its primary suppliers.
Other Chinese companies followed suit, and the country’s imports of chips climbed to almost $380 billion in 2020 -- making up almost a fifth of the country’s overall imports for the year.
台积电高管在最近的财报电话会议上表示，客户为了抵御风险（芯片短缺风险），囤货量比平时更高。私人电脑制造商早在2020年就开始警告半导体供应紧张。
翻译划线句，长按文末小程序码打卡，答案下期公布~
其他中国公司也纷纷效仿，到2020年，中国的芯片进口攀升至近3800亿美元，占全年进口总额的近五分之一。
A bitter February cold snap in Texas led to power outages that shut semiconductor plants clustered around Austin; it was late March before Samsung’s were back to normal production. A plant in Japan run by Renesas Electronics Corp., one of the top providers of automotive chips, was damaged by fire on March 19, disrupting production for weeks. And Taiwan raised a
red alert
as it endures the worst drought in decades, increasing the prospect that semiconductor manufacturing could be affected if
monsoon
rains don’t arrive as normal in late May.
得克萨斯州二月份的寒流导致电力中断，聚集在奥斯汀周围的半导体工厂被迫关闭；直到3月底，三星才恢复正常生产。3月19日，主要汽车芯片供应商之一瑞萨电子在日本经营的一家工厂发生火灾，导致生产中断数周。中国台湾也发布了干旱红色预警，台湾正遭受着几十年来最严重的干旱，如果5月底季风降雨不能正常到来，这增加了半导体制造业受到影响的可能性。
Chipmaking is a high-volume business that calls for incredible precision, along with making huge long-term bets in a field subject to rapid change. Chips are made in plants that cost billions to build and equip. They have to run
flat-out
24/7 to
recoup
their investment. But it’s not just that. Yield, or the amount of good chips per
batch
, determines success or failure.
芯片制造是一项要求极高精度的大体量行业，而且还需要在这个瞬息万变的领域长期进行巨大的投资。芯片是从花费数十亿美元建造和装备的工厂中生产出来的，他们必须全天候运转才能收回投资。而且不仅如此，正品率，即每个批次优质芯片数量，是决定成败的关键。
本文节选自：Bloomberg（彭博社）
发布时间：2021.03.30
作者：Debby Wu, Sohee Kim and Ian King
原文标题：Why the World Is Short of Computer Chips, and Why It Matters
