According to reports, Bill Wiseman, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, a well-known consulting firm, revealed recently that in the face of chip shortages, the company has formed a special team responsible for sourcing specific chips that are urgently needed for customers around the world.

Wiseman says the team will look beyond regular supply chains and has found much-needed chips in countries including Morocco, the Netherlands, and Japan. They have also been able to identify chips that may be slightly different from the ones originally called for. Manufacturers and brokers are, of course, able to charge a premium, and companies have little choice but to pay. “The chips actually are out there,” Wiseman says. “It's just a question of finding and getting them.”

“There's desperation in the market,” says Bill Wiseman. “If you’re building a $350,000 mass spectrometer, and you can't ship it because you don't have a 50-cent chip, you’re pretty much willing to pay anything.”