Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

How do we profit off this?



Apparently there is a big shortage for ABF (Ajinomoto build-up film) substrate, which is big part of PCB manufacturing (see for example https://www.hardwaretimes.com/ps5-supply-to-be-affected-by-a..., https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20201214PD202.html).

Big suppliers of ABF substrate includes multiple companies from Taiwan Unimicron, Kinsus Interconnect, and Nan Ya PCB, which all trade in the Taiwan stock market.

I considered investing in those companies...but seems like only Nan Ya has been showing an upward trend. Perhaps we are still early?


Do second-order manufacturers ever profit from situations like this? All margins seem to go to final product makers, not to a whole chain.


I can't answer broadly or about profit specially - but the stocks of all big wafer producers have risen sharply since fall 2020, something to the tune of 30% or more in a couple of months.


Well this is really a long shot, but the chip shortage is causing production cuts across the car industry. Roughly half of all palladium is used catalytic converters. The cutback in new vehicle production should have a pretty noticeable affect on the price of palladium. If you can time the end of the chip shortage then you can make some money in the palladium futures market. How far fetched do you think this is?


Depends. Who is "we"?

Presumably this will be good for the foundries and makers of industrial semiconductor machinery, and bad for fabless companies. Hard to know the time horizon, however.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: