TV for dogs booms but are they watching?

By David Silverberg

1. ___Six years ago, when Luca Carano was living in Barcelona with his then-girlfriend, they
2. decided to leave their dog Luna home alone as they went out for dinner. They usually took the
3. puppy with them, but on that night they left her at home.
4. ___“I was thinking right then, she's going to be bored and lonely, there should be something
5. on YouTube for Luna,” says Carano. He decided to act on his idea. He created the YouTube
6. channel Siesta Dog TV which features videos of dogs, for dogs, in colours they can see best.
7. Cartoons as long as 10 hours each feature illustrated dogs playing around in an animated New
8. York City, or dogs watching duck ponds. Calming classical-like or ambient music accompanies
9. the images on the screen, all made to relax dogs.
10. ___One of Carano's videos attracted around 3.5 million views. “I've seen how Luna enjoys
11. these videos, and I get so many comments from people who say they feel great leaving their
12. dog alone with my videos because it calms them,” Carano adds.
13. ___Over the six years since Carano started out, TV for dogs has snowballed. A host of
14. channels cater for the increasing number of pet owners who worry about leaving their dogs at
15. home.
16. ___“People are more closely attached to their dogs than ever before and they treat them like
17. children and worry about leaving them alone,” says Nicholas Dodman, the director of the Center
18. for Canine Behaviour Studies in Connecticut. “There's also more awareness these days about
19. separation anxiety affecting dogs,” he says. That's creating demand for dog-friendly TV —
20. other channels include Four Paws TV, Cartoon Dog Music, Puppy Dreamscape and Sleepy Cats.
21. ___Some videos show puppies frolicking or close-ups of squirrels, others stream loops of
22. squishy toys enjoyed by other animals or humans. Carano's videos, unlike other channels,
23. mainly feature blue hues, which dogs can see much clearer than other colours.
24. ___Making such material has become easier thanks to AI. “Some of our videos are AI, some
25. are hand-drawn, and technology allows us to make the videos set wherever we want, like
26. Hawaii,” says Carano. “And when it comes down to it, dogs don't care if what they are seeing
27. is AI”.
28. ___But do dogs actually watch TV and does it do them any good? The research is mixed. A
29. study from the Canine Behaviour Centre at Queen's University Belfast, published in 2023,
30. looked at the reaction of 50 dogs in a rescue shelter to different screens. It found that dogs
31. spent only 10.8% of the total available viewing time looking directly at the television monitors.
32. ___“The dogs in this investigation directed relatively little attention towards the television
33. monitors and habituated to their presence within a short period of time,” the report said. The
34. authors stressed that traditional forms of dog entertainment were vital for wellbeing. “The
35. provision of social contacts, both with other dogs and with humans, is essential and should be
36. considered the most important form of environmental enrichment for confined dogs”.

(Frolicking = playing energetically

Squishy = soft when pressed)

(Available at: www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq59leg3gp5o – text specially adapted for this test).

TV for dogs booms but are they watching?

By David Silverberg

1. ___Six years ago, when Luca Carano was living in Barcelona with his then-girlfriend, they
2. decided to leave their dog Luna home alone as they went out for dinner. They usually took the
3. puppy with them, but on that night they left her at home.
4. ___“I was thinking right then, she's going to be bored and lonely, there should be something
5. on YouTube for Luna,” says Carano. He decided to act on his idea. He created the YouTube
6. channel Siesta Dog TV which features videos of dogs, for dogs, in colours they can see best.
7. Cartoons as long as 10 hours each feature illustrated dogs playing around in an animated New
8. York City, or dogs watching duck ponds. Calming classical-like or ambient music accompanies
9. the images on the screen, all made to relax dogs.
10. ___One of Carano's videos attracted around 3.5 million views. “I've seen how Luna enjoys
11. these videos, and I get so many comments from people who say they feel great leaving their
12. dog alone with my videos because it calms them,” Carano adds.
13. ___Over the six years since Carano started out, TV for dogs has snowballed. A host of
14. channels cater for the increasing number of pet owners who worry about leaving their dogs at
15. home.
16. ___“People are more closely attached to their dogs than ever before and they treat them like
17. children and worry about leaving them alone,” says Nicholas Dodman, the director of the Center
18. for Canine Behaviour Studies in Connecticut. “There's also more awareness these days about
19. separation anxiety affecting dogs,” he says. That's creating demand for dog-friendly TV —
20. other channels include Four Paws TV, Cartoon Dog Music, Puppy Dreamscape and Sleepy Cats.
21. ___Some videos show puppies frolicking or close-ups of squirrels, others stream loops of
22. squishy toys enjoyed by other animals or humans. Carano's videos, unlike other channels,
23. mainly feature blue hues, which dogs can see much clearer than other colours.
24. ___Making such material has become easier thanks to AI. “Some of our videos are AI, some
25. are hand-drawn, and technology allows us to make the videos set wherever we want, like
26. Hawaii,” says Carano. “And when it comes down to it, dogs don't care if what they are seeing
27. is AI”.
28. ___But do dogs actually watch TV and does it do them any good? The research is mixed. A
29. study from the Canine Behaviour Centre at Queen's University Belfast, published in 2023,
30. looked at the reaction of 50 dogs in a rescue shelter to different screens. It found that dogs
31. spent only 10.8% of the total available viewing time looking directly at the television monitors.
32. ___“The dogs in this investigation directed relatively little attention towards the television
33. monitors and habituated to their presence within a short period of time,” the report said. The
34. authors stressed that traditional forms of dog entertainment were vital for wellbeing. “The
35. provision of social contacts, both with other dogs and with humans, is essential and should be
36. considered the most important form of environmental enrichment for confined dogs”.

(Frolicking = playing energetically

Squishy = soft when pressed)

(Available at: www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq59leg3gp5o – text specially adapted for this test).

TV for dogs booms but are they watching?

By David Silverberg

1. ___Six years ago, when Luca Carano was living in Barcelona with his then-girlfriend, they
2. decided to leave their dog Luna home alone as they went out for dinner. They usually took the
3. puppy with them, but on that night they left her at home.
4. ___“I was thinking right then, she's going to be bored and lonely, there should be something
5. on YouTube for Luna,” says Carano. He decided to act on his idea. He created the YouTube
6. channel Siesta Dog TV which features videos of dogs, for dogs, in colours they can see best.
7. Cartoons as long as 10 hours each feature illustrated dogs playing around in an animated New
8. York City, or dogs watching duck ponds. Calming classical-like or ambient music accompanies
9. the images on the screen, all made to relax dogs.
10. ___One of Carano's videos attracted around 3.5 million views. “I've seen how Luna enjoys
11. these videos, and I get so many comments from people who say they feel great leaving their
12. dog alone with my videos because it calms them,” Carano adds.
13. ___Over the six years since Carano started out, TV for dogs has snowballed. A host of
14. channels cater for the increasing number of pet owners who worry about leaving their dogs at
15. home.
16. ___“People are more closely attached to their dogs than ever before and they treat them like
17. children and worry about leaving them alone,” says Nicholas Dodman, the director of the Center
18. for Canine Behaviour Studies in Connecticut. “There's also more awareness these days about
19. separation anxiety affecting dogs,” he says. That's creating demand for dog-friendly TV —
20. other channels include Four Paws TV, Cartoon Dog Music, Puppy Dreamscape and Sleepy Cats.
21. ___Some videos show puppies frolicking or close-ups of squirrels, others stream loops of
22. squishy toys enjoyed by other animals or humans. Carano's videos, unlike other channels,
23. mainly feature blue hues, which dogs can see much clearer than other colours.
24. ___Making such material has become easier thanks to AI. “Some of our videos are AI, some
25. are hand-drawn, and technology allows us to make the videos set wherever we want, like
26. Hawaii,” says Carano. “And when it comes down to it, dogs don't care if what they are seeing
27. is AI”.
28. ___But do dogs actually watch TV and does it do them any good? The research is mixed. A
29. study from the Canine Behaviour Centre at Queen's University Belfast, published in 2023,
30. looked at the reaction of 50 dogs in a rescue shelter to different screens. It found that dogs
31. spent only 10.8% of the total available viewing time looking directly at the television monitors.
32. ___“The dogs in this investigation directed relatively little attention towards the television
33. monitors and habituated to their presence within a short period of time,” the report said. The
34. authors stressed that traditional forms of dog entertainment were vital for wellbeing. “The
35. provision of social contacts, both with other dogs and with humans, is essential and should be
36. considered the most important form of environmental enrichment for confined dogs”.

(Frolicking = playing energetically

Squishy = soft when pressed)

(Available at: www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq59leg3gp5o – text specially adapted for this test).

Text for items 29 to 40.

Smart factories (e.g., the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), automation and artificial intelligence (AI)) are radically changing manufacturing. The smart factory revolution is currently on hold, however, due to the shortage of one of its key components, semiconductor chips. Globalization, which has been an important driver of growth and the creation of wealth for decades, has also made our world far more complex. Have we reached a point where this interconnectivity is turning into a liability?

As is so often the case, the current semiconductor crisis is not a one-off problem that appeared out of the blue, it resulted from multiple overlapping crises that have characterized the early 2020s. They include the industry structure itself; limited capacity available to meet the global surge in demand for semiconductor chips, and rising protectionism and geopolitical instability. What is not likely to change anytime soon is the fundamental characteristic of the semiconductor industry itself. The production of semiconductor chips is not only extremely capital-intensive, it is also a very time-consuming process that consists of hundreds of individual steps.

Moreover, the semiconductor industry reflects the state of the global economy. Optimized to maintain the lowest possible level of inventory and maximum capacity utilization, it is hardly surprising—at least in hindsight—that global supply chains are in disarray. This may be easy to say now, but warning signs were already visible prior to 2019. Globalization started crumbling amidst the often abstract discussions on protectionism materializing in the real world, export stops and stockpiling. The impact of the semiconductor shortage on the automotive industry can only be described as dramatic. Around 11.3 million cars could not be produced in 2021 as a result of the semiconductor shortage, and a further 7 million cars are assumed to not have been produced in 2023. Forgone sales in this industry alone have run into the hundreds of billions. Given the fragility of global value chains and the expectation that the underlying conditions will not improve any time soon, questions about how this will all play out are growing.

In particular, smart factories critically depend on semiconductor chips. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), which connects machines and devices and uses sensors and actuators to continuously monitor all stages of the production process, runs on semiconductor chips. Edge computing combined with 5G networks transmit data in real time, feeding into artificial intelligence (AI) control systems, also heavily dependent on semiconductor chips. With the huge volumes of data being generated, exchanged, analysed and used in real time, this demand for chips and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) is only bound to rise in the future. Especially as it is not only smart factories and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) which depend on semiconductor chips, but also smartphones, personal computers and cars.

There are no quick or simple solutions. Highly complex production processes heavily rely on specialized machinery, which first need to be built; what may pose an even bigger problem is that key consumables in semiconductor production, such as neon, krypton, or argon, depend on key suppliers, in particular Ukraine and the Russian Federation. These key consumables are currently also experiencing severe shortages, and have exacerbated the semiconductor crisis even further.

Internet: < iap.unido.org > (adapted).

According to the text, judge the following items.

Text for items 29 to 40.

Smart factories (e.g., the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), automation and artificial intelligence (AI)) are radically changing manufacturing. The smart factory revolution is currently on hold, however, due to the shortage of one of its key components, semiconductor chips. Globalization, which has been an important driver of growth and the creation of wealth for decades, has also made our world far more complex. Have we reached a point where this interconnectivity is turning into a liability?

As is so often the case, the current semiconductor crisis is not a one-off problem that appeared out of the blue, it resulted from multiple overlapping crises that have characterized the early 2020s. They include the industry structure itself; limited capacity available to meet the global surge in demand for semiconductor chips, and rising protectionism and geopolitical instability. What is not likely to change anytime soon is the fundamental characteristic of the semiconductor industry itself. The production of semiconductor chips is not only extremely capital-intensive, it is also a very time-consuming process that consists of hundreds of individual steps.

Moreover, the semiconductor industry reflects the state of the global economy. Optimized to maintain the lowest possible level of inventory and maximum capacity utilization, it is hardly surprising—at least in hindsight—that global supply chains are in disarray. This may be easy to say now, but warning signs were already visible prior to 2019. Globalization started crumbling amidst the often abstract discussions on protectionism materializing in the real world, export stops and stockpiling. The impact of the semiconductor shortage on the automotive industry can only be described as dramatic. Around 11.3 million cars could not be produced in 2021 as a result of the semiconductor shortage, and a further 7 million cars are assumed to not have been produced in 2023. Forgone sales in this industry alone have run into the hundreds of billions. Given the fragility of global value chains and the expectation that the underlying conditions will not improve any time soon, questions about how this will all play out are growing.

In particular, smart factories critically depend on semiconductor chips. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), which connects machines and devices and uses sensors and actuators to continuously monitor all stages of the production process, runs on semiconductor chips. Edge computing combined with 5G networks transmit data in real time, feeding into artificial intelligence (AI) control systems, also heavily dependent on semiconductor chips. With the huge volumes of data being generated, exchanged, analysed and used in real time, this demand for chips and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) is only bound to rise in the future. Especially as it is not only smart factories and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) which depend on semiconductor chips, but also smartphones, personal computers and cars.

There are no quick or simple solutions. Highly complex production processes heavily rely on specialized machinery, which first need to be built; what may pose an even bigger problem is that key consumables in semiconductor production, such as neon, krypton, or argon, depend on key suppliers, in particular Ukraine and the Russian Federation. These key consumables are currently also experiencing severe shortages, and have exacerbated the semiconductor crisis even further.

Internet: < iap.unido.org > (adapted).

According to the text, judge the following items.

Text for items 29 to 40.

Smart factories (e.g., the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), automation and artificial intelligence (AI)) are radically changing manufacturing. The smart factory revolution is currently on hold, however, due to the shortage of one of its key components, semiconductor chips. Globalization, which has been an important driver of growth and the creation of wealth for decades, has also made our world far more complex. Have we reached a point where this interconnectivity is turning into a liability?

As is so often the case, the current semiconductor crisis is not a one-off problem that appeared out of the blue, it resulted from multiple overlapping crises that have characterized the early 2020s. They include the industry structure itself; limited capacity available to meet the global surge in demand for semiconductor chips, and rising protectionism and geopolitical instability. What is not likely to change anytime soon is the fundamental characteristic of the semiconductor industry itself. The production of semiconductor chips is not only extremely capital-intensive, it is also a very time-consuming process that consists of hundreds of individual steps.

Moreover, the semiconductor industry reflects the state of the global economy. Optimized to maintain the lowest possible level of inventory and maximum capacity utilization, it is hardly surprising—at least in hindsight—that global supply chains are in disarray. This may be easy to say now, but warning signs were already visible prior to 2019. Globalization started crumbling amidst the often abstract discussions on protectionism materializing in the real world, export stops and stockpiling. The impact of the semiconductor shortage on the automotive industry can only be described as dramatic. Around 11.3 million cars could not be produced in 2021 as a result of the semiconductor shortage, and a further 7 million cars are assumed to not have been produced in 2023. Forgone sales in this industry alone have run into the hundreds of billions. Given the fragility of global value chains and the expectation that the underlying conditions will not improve any time soon, questions about how this will all play out are growing.

In particular, smart factories critically depend on semiconductor chips. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), which connects machines and devices and uses sensors and actuators to continuously monitor all stages of the production process, runs on semiconductor chips. Edge computing combined with 5G networks transmit data in real time, feeding into artificial intelligence (AI) control systems, also heavily dependent on semiconductor chips. With the huge volumes of data being generated, exchanged, analysed and used in real time, this demand for chips and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) is only bound to rise in the future. Especially as it is not only smart factories and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) which depend on semiconductor chips, but also smartphones, personal computers and cars.

There are no quick or simple solutions. Highly complex production processes heavily rely on specialized machinery, which first need to be built; what may pose an even bigger problem is that key consumables in semiconductor production, such as neon, krypton, or argon, depend on key suppliers, in particular Ukraine and the Russian Federation. These key consumables are currently also experiencing severe shortages, and have exacerbated the semiconductor crisis even further.

Internet: < iap.unido.org > (adapted).

According to the text, judge the following items.

Text for items 29 to 40.

Smart factories (e.g., the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), automation and artificial intelligence (AI)) are radically changing manufacturing. The smart factory revolution is currently on hold, however, due to the shortage of one of its key components, semiconductor chips. Globalization, which has been an important driver of growth and the creation of wealth for decades, has also made our world far more complex. Have we reached a point where this interconnectivity is turning into a liability?

As is so often the case, the current semiconductor crisis is not a one-off problem that appeared out of the blue, it resulted from multiple overlapping crises that have characterized the early 2020s. They include the industry structure itself; limited capacity available to meet the global surge in demand for semiconductor chips, and rising protectionism and geopolitical instability. What is not likely to change anytime soon is the fundamental characteristic of the semiconductor industry itself. The production of semiconductor chips is not only extremely capital-intensive, it is also a very time-consuming process that consists of hundreds of individual steps.

Moreover, the semiconductor industry reflects the state of the global economy. Optimized to maintain the lowest possible level of inventory and maximum capacity utilization, it is hardly surprising—at least in hindsight—that global supply chains are in disarray. This may be easy to say now, but warning signs were already visible prior to 2019. Globalization started crumbling amidst the often abstract discussions on protectionism materializing in the real world, export stops and stockpiling. The impact of the semiconductor shortage on the automotive industry can only be described as dramatic. Around 11.3 million cars could not be produced in 2021 as a result of the semiconductor shortage, and a further 7 million cars are assumed to not have been produced in 2023. Forgone sales in this industry alone have run into the hundreds of billions. Given the fragility of global value chains and the expectation that the underlying conditions will not improve any time soon, questions about how this will all play out are growing.

In particular, smart factories critically depend on semiconductor chips. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), which connects machines and devices and uses sensors and actuators to continuously monitor all stages of the production process, runs on semiconductor chips. Edge computing combined with 5G networks transmit data in real time, feeding into artificial intelligence (AI) control systems, also heavily dependent on semiconductor chips. With the huge volumes of data being generated, exchanged, analysed and used in real time, this demand for chips and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) is only bound to rise in the future. Especially as it is not only smart factories and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) which depend on semiconductor chips, but also smartphones, personal computers and cars.

There are no quick or simple solutions. Highly complex production processes heavily rely on specialized machinery, which first need to be built; what may pose an even bigger problem is that key consumables in semiconductor production, such as neon, krypton, or argon, depend on key suppliers, in particular Ukraine and the Russian Federation. These key consumables are currently also experiencing severe shortages, and have exacerbated the semiconductor crisis even further.

Internet: < iap.unido.org > (adapted).

According to the text, judge the following items.

Text for items 29 to 40.

Smart factories (e.g., the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), automation and artificial intelligence (AI)) are radically changing manufacturing. The smart factory revolution is currently on hold, however, due to the shortage of one of its key components, semiconductor chips. Globalization, which has been an important driver of growth and the creation of wealth for decades, has also made our world far more complex. Have we reached a point where this interconnectivity is turning into a liability?

As is so often the case, the current semiconductor crisis is not a one-off problem that appeared out of the blue, it resulted from multiple overlapping crises that have characterized the early 2020s. They include the industry structure itself; limited capacity available to meet the global surge in demand for semiconductor chips, and rising protectionism and geopolitical instability. What is not likely to change anytime soon is the fundamental characteristic of the semiconductor industry itself. The production of semiconductor chips is not only extremely capital-intensive, it is also a very time-consuming process that consists of hundreds of individual steps.

Moreover, the semiconductor industry reflects the state of the global economy. Optimized to maintain the lowest possible level of inventory and maximum capacity utilization, it is hardly surprising—at least in hindsight—that global supply chains are in disarray. This may be easy to say now, but warning signs were already visible prior to 2019. Globalization started crumbling amidst the often abstract discussions on protectionism materializing in the real world, export stops and stockpiling. The impact of the semiconductor shortage on the automotive industry can only be described as dramatic. Around 11.3 million cars could not be produced in 2021 as a result of the semiconductor shortage, and a further 7 million cars are assumed to not have been produced in 2023. Forgone sales in this industry alone have run into the hundreds of billions. Given the fragility of global value chains and the expectation that the underlying conditions will not improve any time soon, questions about how this will all play out are growing.

In particular, smart factories critically depend on semiconductor chips. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), which connects machines and devices and uses sensors and actuators to continuously monitor all stages of the production process, runs on semiconductor chips. Edge computing combined with 5G networks transmit data in real time, feeding into artificial intelligence (AI) control systems, also heavily dependent on semiconductor chips. With the huge volumes of data being generated, exchanged, analysed and used in real time, this demand for chips and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) is only bound to rise in the future. Especially as it is not only smart factories and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) which depend on semiconductor chips, but also smartphones, personal computers and cars.

There are no quick or simple solutions. Highly complex production processes heavily rely on specialized machinery, which first need to be built; what may pose an even bigger problem is that key consumables in semiconductor production, such as neon, krypton, or argon, depend on key suppliers, in particular Ukraine and the Russian Federation. These key consumables are currently also experiencing severe shortages, and have exacerbated the semiconductor crisis even further.

Internet: < iap.unido.org > (adapted).

According to the text, judge the following items.

Text for items 29 to 40.

Smart factories (e.g., the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), automation and artificial intelligence (AI)) are radically changing manufacturing. The smart factory revolution is currently on hold, however, due to the shortage of one of its key components, semiconductor chips. Globalization, which has been an important driver of growth and the creation of wealth for decades, has also made our world far more complex. Have we reached a point where this interconnectivity is turning into a liability?

As is so often the case, the current semiconductor crisis is not a one-off problem that appeared out of the blue, it resulted from multiple overlapping crises that have characterized the early 2020s. They include the industry structure itself; limited capacity available to meet the global surge in demand for semiconductor chips, and rising protectionism and geopolitical instability. What is not likely to change anytime soon is the fundamental characteristic of the semiconductor industry itself. The production of semiconductor chips is not only extremely capital-intensive, it is also a very time-consuming process that consists of hundreds of individual steps.

Moreover, the semiconductor industry reflects the state of the global economy. Optimized to maintain the lowest possible level of inventory and maximum capacity utilization, it is hardly surprising—at least in hindsight—that global supply chains are in disarray. This may be easy to say now, but warning signs were already visible prior to 2019. Globalization started crumbling amidst the often abstract discussions on protectionism materializing in the real world, export stops and stockpiling. The impact of the semiconductor shortage on the automotive industry can only be described as dramatic. Around 11.3 million cars could not be produced in 2021 as a result of the semiconductor shortage, and a further 7 million cars are assumed to not have been produced in 2023. Forgone sales in this industry alone have run into the hundreds of billions. Given the fragility of global value chains and the expectation that the underlying conditions will not improve any time soon, questions about how this will all play out are growing.

In particular, smart factories critically depend on semiconductor chips. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), which connects machines and devices and uses sensors and actuators to continuously monitor all stages of the production process, runs on semiconductor chips. Edge computing combined with 5G networks transmit data in real time, feeding into artificial intelligence (AI) control systems, also heavily dependent on semiconductor chips. With the huge volumes of data being generated, exchanged, analysed and used in real time, this demand for chips and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) is only bound to rise in the future. Especially as it is not only smart factories and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) which depend on semiconductor chips, but also smartphones, personal computers and cars.

There are no quick or simple solutions. Highly complex production processes heavily rely on specialized machinery, which first need to be built; what may pose an even bigger problem is that key consumables in semiconductor production, such as neon, krypton, or argon, depend on key suppliers, in particular Ukraine and the Russian Federation. These key consumables are currently also experiencing severe shortages, and have exacerbated the semiconductor crisis even further.

Internet: < iap.unido.org > (adapted).

According to the text, judge the following items.

Text for items 29 to 40.

Smart factories (e.g., the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), automation and artificial intelligence (AI)) are radically changing manufacturing. The smart factory revolution is currently on hold, however, due to the shortage of one of its key components, semiconductor chips. Globalization, which has been an important driver of growth and the creation of wealth for decades, has also made our world far more complex. Have we reached a point where this interconnectivity is turning into a liability?

As is so often the case, the current semiconductor crisis is not a one-off problem that appeared out of the blue, it resulted from multiple overlapping crises that have characterized the early 2020s. They include the industry structure itself; limited capacity available to meet the global surge in demand for semiconductor chips, and rising protectionism and geopolitical instability. What is not likely to change anytime soon is the fundamental characteristic of the semiconductor industry itself. The production of semiconductor chips is not only extremely capital-intensive, it is also a very time-consuming process that consists of hundreds of individual steps.

Moreover, the semiconductor industry reflects the state of the global economy. Optimized to maintain the lowest possible level of inventory and maximum capacity utilization, it is hardly surprising—at least in hindsight—that global supply chains are in disarray. This may be easy to say now, but warning signs were already visible prior to 2019. Globalization started crumbling amidst the often abstract discussions on protectionism materializing in the real world, export stops and stockpiling. The impact of the semiconductor shortage on the automotive industry can only be described as dramatic. Around 11.3 million cars could not be produced in 2021 as a result of the semiconductor shortage, and a further 7 million cars are assumed to not have been produced in 2023. Forgone sales in this industry alone have run into the hundreds of billions. Given the fragility of global value chains and the expectation that the underlying conditions will not improve any time soon, questions about how this will all play out are growing.

In particular, smart factories critically depend on semiconductor chips. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), which connects machines and devices and uses sensors and actuators to continuously monitor all stages of the production process, runs on semiconductor chips. Edge computing combined with 5G networks transmit data in real time, feeding into artificial intelligence (AI) control systems, also heavily dependent on semiconductor chips. With the huge volumes of data being generated, exchanged, analysed and used in real time, this demand for chips and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) is only bound to rise in the future. Especially as it is not only smart factories and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) which depend on semiconductor chips, but also smartphones, personal computers and cars.

There are no quick or simple solutions. Highly complex production processes heavily rely on specialized machinery, which first need to be built; what may pose an even bigger problem is that key consumables in semiconductor production, such as neon, krypton, or argon, depend on key suppliers, in particular Ukraine and the Russian Federation. These key consumables are currently also experiencing severe shortages, and have exacerbated the semiconductor crisis even further.

Internet: < iap.unido.org > (adapted).

According to the text, judge the following items.