Entropy and hierarchy of competition in the World semiconductor market during COVID-19 pandemics

Microelectronics is a highly capital-intensive industry sector in which the competition is based on constant innovations and large scale investments. The market of semiconductor components is a typical example of a complex and dynamic system and the study of its structure is of particular interest in theoretical and practical terms. This paper explores the evolution of the semiconductor market since the early 1990s with a special focus on the most recent developments during the COVID-19 pandemics and the economic crisis of 2020-21. The dynamics of market concentration and the specifics of competition interactions among the largest suppliers of semiconductor components were explored with the traditional Information Theory concept for entropy and a novel concept for hierarchy. The comparative analysis confirms that the novel hierarchy concept is a consistent method that provides credible results in a format that can be used as complement for improving the existing methods.