A new alliance between US, India, Japan and Australia seeks to strengthen supply chains that currently rely on Chinese made semiconductors, reports Economic Times. 

The Quad Alliance - India, US, Japan, and Australia - has joined hands to secure supply chains in critical areas such as semiconductors and 5G telecom technologies, in a bid to contain the rising influence of China in these strategic sectors, according to geopolitical experts.

Chinese chip manufacturers are stopping production for several days, reports Nikkei.  

Several key chip packaging and testing service providers supplying Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm also received notices to suspend production at their facilities in Jiangsu for several days, people with knowledge of the matter told Nikkei Asia, further waylaying an electronics industry hit by the chip supply crunch.

According to MIT, a new resource called SourceMap will help companies trace their supply chains from end-to-end. 

For years, companies have managed their extended supply chains with intermittent audits and certifications while attempting to persuade their suppliers to adhere to certain standards and codes of conduct.