That’s what’s being reported by Taiwanese wire Digitimes, which says that suppliers of the raw blank silicon have told UMC, Micron and TSMC to expect the worst.

There’s a shortage of blank silicon but obviously not of sand and even TSMC will suffer from the under supply, despite the fact that it usually gets a discount because it just churns out so many chips.

It’s unclear whether the price hikes will affect the fabless companies that use the chip foundries but it’s pretty likely that will happen.

And the shortage over the next few years will continue, the same report suggests, with suppliers of the silicon feeling something of a squeeze.