As China seeks to boost its domestic chipmaking capabilities, an increase in demand for mini LED chips that are used in manufacturing laptops, tablets, and other electronic devices has crowded out chipmakers’ ability to produce older, conventional LED chips used for display screens. This shortage has already resulted in price hikes for the conventional LED chips. Industry experts predict that manufacturers will likely transfer the price hike downstream, to retailers of consumer electronic goods. According to a Jan. 20 report by Hong Kong Economic Times, tech giants Apple and Samsung are preparing to launch new laptops, tablets, and TVs that are fully equipped with mini LED backlights this year. This will lead to skyrocketing demand for mini LED chips. As producing mini LED chips yield far higher profit margins than conventional LEDs, manufacturers are cutting down their capacity to make traditional LEDs. Taiwan-based market research firm TrendForce stated that mainland …