They are everywhere. In our phones, our cars, our living rooms, our kitchens, at the office or in the factory. Most of the time invisible, they nevertheless fill our everyday lives. Electronic chips, collections of microscopic components (transistors, diodes, converters and more) etched onto a small piece of semiconductor material such as silicon or gallium arsenide, are all around us.
A smartphone contains more than 150 chips. An electric car has between 1,000 and 3,000. In a modern home, there can be as many as 5,000, including those found in electronic devices (television, tablet, computer, internet box, refrigerator), energy equipment (LEDs, boiler, photovoltaic panels) and home automation systems (alarm, sensors).
Developed after the Second World War, the American company Fairchild Semiconductor marketed the first integrated circuit in 1961. Since then, semiconductors have become essential to the global economy, on par with oil, which has earned them the nickname “the new black gold.” According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), they are the fourth most traded product in the world by value, after crude oil, refined oil and the automotive industry.
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