Shailesh Chitnis

1 month ago | economist.com | Shailesh Chitnis

Business | The chips are downChristophe Fouquet threatens to head elsewhere if his firm is not better protectedASML is in an enviable position. The Dutch company is the only manufacturer of equipment that can reliably etch the most advanced semiconductors, as required for everything from artificial-intelligence (AI) accelerators to smartphone chips. Even for less sophisticated processors—the type found in cars and washing machines—its machines account for over 90% of global sales.

Feb 5, 2025 | economist.com | Shailesh Chitnis

A new book argues that dogma and bad science led Alzheimer’s research astrayAlzheimer’s disease affects more than 30m people worldwide, mostly the elderly. After the age of 65, the chance of developing it doubles every five years. By 85, the odds are one in three. Its symptoms, which include memory loss, difficulty with basic tasks and depression, progressively worsen. As global life expectancy rises, so will cases of Alzheimer’s, making it one of the big public-health challenges of an ageing world.

Nov 20, 2024 | economist.com | Shailesh Chitnis

Software-inspired medicines are getting closer to prime timeBy Shailesh Chitnis, Global business correspondent, The EconomistProgress in computing has long been described by Moore’s law, a rule of thumb which says that the cost of processing power falls by half roughly every two years. The pharmaceutical industry follows an opposite rule. Its version, called Eroom’s law (“Moore” spelled backwards), posits that the cost of developing a new drug doubles roughly every nine years.

Nov 20, 2024 | economist.com | Shailesh Chitnis

Expect more export bans, a supply glut and creative sanctions-dodgingBy Shailesh Chitnis, Global business correspondent, The EconomistAdvanceD chipmaking will return to America in 2025, more than a decade after the country lost its edge in semiconductor manufacturing to Taiwan. Ironically it is tsmc, a Taiwanese chip giant, that will lead this comeback by making state-of-the-art chips at its new fabrication plant (or “fab”) in Arizona in the coming year.