Berliner Boersenzeitung - AI-driven chip shortage slowing efforts to get world online: GSMA

EUR -
AED 4.332827
AFN 75.506935
ALL 95.708935
AMD 441.469974
ANG 2.111708
AOA 1081.877662
ARS 1611.349391
AUD 1.651805
AWG 2.117744
AZN 2.007301
BAM 1.957013
BBD 2.377444
BDT 145.160001
BGN 1.968029
BHD 0.444927
BIF 3558.891463
BMD 1.179801
BND 1.501124
BOB 8.157057
BRL 5.880014
BSD 1.180417
BTN 109.862184
BWP 15.816739
BYN 3.353979
BYR 23124.10916
BZD 2.374062
CAD 1.62451
CDF 2725.341259
CHF 0.92131
CLF 0.026583
CLP 1046.223864
CNY 8.043474
CNH 8.038754
COP 4240.489699
CRC 543.434631
CUC 1.179801
CUP 31.264739
CVE 110.332472
CZK 24.336234
DJF 210.197652
DKK 7.472939
DOP 70.353322
DZD 155.930836
EGP 61.914209
ERN 17.697022
ETB 184.310193
FJD 2.593616
FKP 0.876694
GBP 0.869219
GEL 3.167747
GGP 0.876694
GHS 13.042976
GIP 0.876694
GMD 86.711708
GNF 10357.333853
GTQ 9.024519
GYD 246.963119
HKD 9.246989
HNL 31.352306
HRK 7.535162
HTG 154.63522
HUF 363.302761
IDR 20219.673857
ILS 3.557538
IMP 0.876694
INR 110.170451
IQD 1546.358757
IRR 1552766.232829
ISK 143.815074
JEP 0.876694
JMD 186.394777
JOD 0.836455
JPY 187.458502
KES 152.607804
KGS 103.173256
KHR 4735.916241
KMF 493.156757
KPW 1061.790688
KRW 1739.021509
KWD 0.364842
KYD 0.98371
KZT 560.837725
LAK 25936.080608
LBP 105705.438341
LKR 372.480942
LRD 217.603071
LSL 19.329585
LTL 3.483647
LVL 0.71365
LYD 7.477541
MAD 10.91877
MDL 20.214533
MGA 4881.005583
MKD 61.658596
MMK 2477.437583
MNT 4218.457946
MOP 9.524446
MRU 46.909687
MUR 54.565766
MVR 18.239444
MWK 2046.860398
MXN 20.354531
MYR 4.660233
MZN 75.454216
NAD 19.329585
NGN 1595.387122
NIO 43.437668
NOK 11.131438
NPR 175.78024
NZD 1.997622
OMR 0.453639
PAB 1.180437
PEN 3.981168
PGK 5.193176
PHP 70.816367
PKR 329.243639
PLN 4.238596
PYG 7552.586649
QAR 4.303332
RON 5.091431
RSD 117.402069
RUB 88.929388
RWF 1728.664462
SAR 4.426568
SBD 9.495644
SCR 16.692388
SDG 709.060724
SEK 10.829929
SGD 1.499663
SHP 0.880841
SLE 29.082169
SLL 24739.842774
SOS 674.615409
SRD 44.159673
STD 24419.508787
STN 24.514992
SVC 10.328404
SYP 130.522854
SZL 19.323899
THB 37.717932
TJS 11.178478
TMT 4.135204
TND 3.427496
TOP 2.840679
TRY 52.793988
TTD 8.020973
TWD 37.297008
TZS 3068.925606
UAH 51.362828
UGX 4379.715464
USD 1.179801
UYU 47.499047
UZS 14335.888382
VES 562.799347
VND 31062.993371
VUV 140.790556
WST 3.255472
XAF 656.361168
XAG 0.014837
XAU 0.000245
XCD 3.188473
XCG 2.127419
XDR 0.816303
XOF 656.355602
XPF 119.331742
YER 281.41212
ZAR 19.275247
ZMK 10619.624149
ZMW 22.57471
ZWL 379.895598
  • CMSC

    0.1500

    22.64

    +0.66%

  • JRI

    0.0000

    12.92

    0%

  • BCC

    0.1700

    81.72

    +0.21%

  • CMSD

    0.1700

    22.83

    +0.74%

  • AZN

    2.1400

    204.38

    +1.05%

  • BCE

    0.3500

    23.85

    +1.47%

  • BTI

    -1.1800

    57.51

    -2.05%

  • NGG

    0.0000

    88.95

    0%

  • BP

    -0.2700

    46.17

    -0.58%

  • RIO

    -0.3300

    98.87

    -0.33%

  • GSK

    0.2400

    59.18

    +0.41%

  • RBGPF

    -13.5000

    69

    -19.57%

  • RYCEF

    0.5900

    17.79

    +3.32%

  • RELX

    0.4600

    34.71

    +1.33%

  • VOD

    -0.0300

    15.62

    -0.19%

AI-driven chip shortage slowing efforts to get world online: GSMA
AI-driven chip shortage slowing efforts to get world online: GSMA / Photo: Lluis GENE - AFP

AI-driven chip shortage slowing efforts to get world online: GSMA

A memory chip crunch fuelled by the artificial intelligence boom is hindering efforts to bring more people online worldwide, the head of the GSMA telecoms industry association told AFP.

Text size:

An estimated 2.2 billion people -- around a quarter of the global population -- were not connected to the internet at all in 2025, according to the United Nations.

Yet only four percent of people live in mobile internet connectivity blackspots, according to the GSMA, whose members include more than 1,000 mobile operators and related businesses.

That means higher smartphone prices caused by the global shortage of memory chips are a "real hit" to efforts to close the gap, director general Vivek Badrinath said.

"It is a very tight situation" and "many manufacturers have reduced their efforts on low-end devices", he said in an interview ahead of a GSMA event in Tokyo on Wednesday.

"The risk of that is that there are fewer available low-end devices, which in Africa in particular is going to hurt. It is a serious issue."

The rush to build AI data centres has sent orders soaring for advanced high‑bandwidth memory microchips, which help the systems process vast amounts of data.

As chipmakers prioritise the lucrative AI industry, they are producing fewer less flashy chips that are used in everyday consumer electronics like phones and laptops, pushing up device prices.

Chey Tae-won, chair of the South Korean business group that includes chip giant SK hynix, told reporters at a tech conference in San Jose in March that the shortage will likely persist through 2030.

- Satellite regulation -

If everyone were able to access the internet through their mobile, global gross domestic product could grow by as much as $3.5 trillion by the end of this decade as digital tools and information make businesses more profitable, according to the GSMA.

The organisation is "engaging with every player in the industry" to address the issue -- including by lobbying policymakers to cut taxes or provide financing, and by encouraging smartphone recycling, Badrinath said.

Meanwhile, the rapid expansion of low-orbit satellite communications networks promises to eventually offer connectivity to people practically anywhere on the planet.

Amazon said Tuesday it had signed a deal to buy the US telecoms satellite group Globalstar, to expand its own space-based internet network and compete with Elon Musk's Starlink.

Despite the exciting developments, most people will only "use satellite once in a while", Badrinath said.

"Most of the time, you're still going to be at home under wi-fi or outside on your mobile network. And satellite doesn't work indoors that well."

It's also important that satellite companies offering cross-border services follow existing frameworks for the mainstream mobile internet, Badrinath stressed.

"It's important that policymakers define policies that ensure that... rules on privacy, on legal intercept, all those compliance rules are also adhered to by satellite operators. And that's something that we're working on with them."

(G.Gruner--BBZ)