> lackluster demand for older chips and tariff uncertainties ... numerous chip suppliers shift their investment strategies to "wait and see" mode.
That's coming up in other investment areas. The Wall Street Journal has been screaming about this for weeks. Nobody can figure out where to build capital-intensive projects because the rules change every few days.
One of the areas I'd really hoped the US semiconductor investment act passed a few years ago would focus on are the 'jelly bean' chips / components.
By this point those need to be bog standard, RELIABLE TO SOURCE, commodity components. Like screws, staples, washers and semi-processed materials like rock-board, rolls or spools of metal / thread / cloth etc.
There should be more than one manufacturer, and geographic diversity within a country and among allies to mitigate risk factors like natural disasters and (may we never have to worry about it) attacks by enemies.
It's not just the shiny new leading edge and RnD; the full stack needs to be robust and provide competition to keep everything healthy. That's what a regulated market should offer, value from existing players, and when that fails either helping new entrants compete and see success in the market, or standing up a new government business to sell off (recoup investments, though I'd prefer it took profits and _all profits_ were deducted from the citizen tax base) after it's established.