Chips are in short supply. Manufacturers are spending big to prevent a repeat As the world grapples with a shortage of semiconductors, South Korea’s chipmakers are spending huge amounts of money to shore up their production in the decade ahead. Samsung and SK Hynix on Thursday announced plans to expand their investments in semiconductors through 2030 by allocating tens billions of dollars of new money to the sector. Samsung said that it will spend another 38 trillion Korean won ($34 billion) on production logic chips, the brains that power computers. That brings its total spend on the business to 171 trillion won ($151 billion) over the period, including commitments announced in 2019.