>billion dollar companies can't ramp up production?

you're a semiconductor manufacturer who wants to take advantage of the current boom. your options are:

A) invest a hundred cubic meters of money into doubling your manufacturing capacity

B) raise prices by 100%

I can't really blame them for going with B. the blame lies entirely with America's ability to invest billions of its infinite money into companies that make no profit now and have no plausible path to profitability in the future.

As I understand it ramping up a new fab takes a couple of years and several billion dollars. The last time they ramped up production prices had crashed back down by the the time the new fab was fully up and running, so this time they're betting that the scarcity will resolve itself like it did last time.