5 million HKD worth of chips were robbed during transport in Hong Kong.
Even robbers have started stealing chips, highlighting the global chip shortage.
According to a report by Hong Kong Wen Wei Po on June 17, a robbery occurred in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, on Wednesday afternoon. A logistics company was hired to transport a batch of high-value electronic chips worth approximately 5 million HKD to a warehouse in an industrial building. However, the delivery worker was attacked by three robbers in the elevator of the building, and the batch of chips was stolen. After the robbery, the robbers escaped in a getaway vehicle, and the Hong Kong police have opened a case, with no arrests made yet.
Image source: Hong Kong Wen Wei Po
According to reports, the male worker surnamed Xu was beaten and suffered injuries to his face and abdomen. He was sent to the hospital for treatment and is not in serious condition. He works as a delivery worker for a logistics company and was previously hired to transport 14 boxes of electronic chips worth a total of 650,000 USD (approximately 5 million HKD) to a warehouse on the 8th floor of the East Asia Textile Factory Industrial Building at 2 He Tian Street, Tuen Mun. However, it is suspected that the information was leaked, leading to the robbery by the criminals.
The incident occurred around 3 PM on June 16. When the logistics company’s truck arrived, Xu was pushing the 14 boxes of goods into the elevator to send them to the 8th-floor warehouse when three men followed him into the elevator, which he did not notice.
Unexpectedly, when the elevator doors closed, the three men revealed their true intentions and attacked Xu. Xu was overpowered, injured, and the batch of goods was stolen. The three robbers returned to the parking level via the elevator, loaded the goods onto a getaway light truck, and quickly escaped. Xu, injured, notified his colleagues to call the police.
Reports indicate that after receiving the report, the Hong Kong police rushed to investigate and set up roadblocks on major thoroughfares to intercept suspicious vehicles, but no suspects were found. The case has been handed over to the Tuen Mun Police District Anti-Triad Action Team for follow-up, and they are pursuing the whereabouts of the fleeing robbers and the stolen goods.
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Currently, the global chip market is in a state of shortage. On June 16, China’s leading chip manufacturer, SMIC, revealed on an investor interaction platform that nearly 45% of its revenue in the first quarter of this year came from customers in Europe and the United States, and its production capacity is currently insufficient to meet demand.
Earlier this month, a research report provided to Observer Network by market analysis firm TrendForce indicated that due to rising demand for various end applications, there has been strong stocking of various components. Since 2020, global wafer foundry capacity has been in short supply, prompting manufacturers to raise wafer prices and adjust product mixes to ensure profit levels.
The report pointed out that despite the overall industry experiencing high bases in the fourth quarter of 2020 and unexpected external factors such as power outages, the total output value of the top ten wafer foundry companies in the first quarter of 2021 still set a new record for a single quarter, reaching 22.75 billion USD (approximately 145.2 billion RMB), a quarter-on-quarter increase of 1%.
Source: Observer Network
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