Hormuz Strait - Not Just Oil!
It's Also About Chips and Dinner.
The Iran conflict is easily interpreted as a struggle for oil.
However, the Hormuz Strait, which has been blocked for eight days, reveals how the modern world is hanging on a narrow bottleneck just 39 kilometers wide.
Oil and natural gas are not only fuels but also raw materials for producing 92% of sulfur, which is used to make sulfuric acid.
Without this component, it is impossible to mine copper and cobalt, meaning that transformers, batteries, and circuit boards for data centers cannot be manufactured.
Meanwhile, about 30% of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipped to Taiwan also passes through the same strait. Local company TSMC produces up to 90% of the world's modern chips, consuming nearly one-tenth of the island's electricity: without natural gas, there is no power, and without power, there are no chips.
In addition, the Hormuz Strait is also a potential source of "food."
About one-third of the raw materials for nitrogen fertilizer pass through this route, and nearly half the world's population relies on synthetic nitrogen produced from natural gas to survive.
This means that what is currently at risk is not only oil prices, but also sulfur, semiconductors, and food.
A small strait, yet it is putting the resilience of globalization to the test.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1859323592518851/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.