South Korean chip industry worried Iran crisis to disrupt raw material supply, boost chip prices

SEOUL: South Korea’s chip industry is concerned that a prolonged Iranian crisis will disrupt supplies of key materials from the Middle East and increase chip prices as a ‌result of ⁠a spike ⁠in energy costs, a ruling party lawmaker said on Thursday.

The chip industry also said the crisis could deal a setback to plans by big tech firms to build AI data centres in the Middle East for the longer term, thus weighing on strong chip demand, Kim Young-bae said.