Anecdotally, I find that parts that used to be in stock are simply bought up en masse by speculators, and then are resold at a huge markup. So you will routinel

Anecdotally, I find that parts that used to be in stock are simply bought up en masse by speculators, and then are resold at a huge markup. So you will routinely find that all the authorized distributors are zeroed out and all the unauthorized distributors are selling for 2x-100x the price. I'm not sure when this became a thing, but it's very real to me. It's a snowball effect; these folks get better and better at buying everything up, and then get all the capital to continue and expand the process. I have stock notifications everywhere and everything is gone as soon as it is posted. Regarding the article - it is definitely not all about fancy fabs that can't be built - these are analog and power parts! And microcontroller fabs are fancier, but usually many many nodes behind state of the art. Maybe it is a capital thing, but every fab I've ever encountered is more than busy. Sure, you lose money trying to do the hardest thing and failing, but the problem is so widespread across so many non-edge products that it must be explained by other factors.