‘It’s a Roller-Coaster Ride’: Global Chip Shortage Is Making Industries Sweat

The internet-connected world is completely dependent on the production of semiconductors. That’s become a problem now that supplies are running short.

Dan Rozycki, the president of a small engineering firm, worries about what a global semiconductor shortage could mean for curing concrete. Mr. Rozycki’s company, Transtec Group in Austin, Texas, sells small sensors that are placed where concrete is poured at building, highway and bridge construction sites. The gadgets take temperature readings and wirelessly send data so workers with computers can ensure the material is hardening properly. Like many other things in the modern world, from computers and cars to cash registers and kitchen appliances, the sensors require a couple of common, inexpensive semiconductors that have suddenly become a very scarce commodity.