By Andrea Hargraves 
Sanctions and supply chain issues have created a parallel market in China, with these chips selling for 500 times the market value.
Chinese customs officials caught a woman trying to smuggle semiconductors inside an artificial belly, pretending to be pregnant. This arrest sheds light on the reality of smuggling that has arisen in the second largest economy in the world, after the sanctions imposed by the United States of America.
According to the bloombergOn November 25, the authorities arrested the woman as she tried to enter Zhuhai via Macao. According to the customs authorities, the suspect was carrying more than 202 processors and nine smartphones.
The woman came to the attention of the authorities when they asked her how many months she was pregnant. “She said she was five or six months pregnant, but her belly was big and it looked like she was in her third trimester,” the Chinese officials explained.
The economic crisis generated by the Covid-19 virus and all the problems generated in the supply chain opened the doors to the emergence of a black market for semiconductors, in a country that needs these advanced chips to produce millions of products.
The situation has worsened recently, with the Joe Biden administration stepping up sanctions against China, focusing on the development of cutting-edge technology, particularly for military use.
According to the North American Economic Bulletin, the situation is so serious that the prices of these devices are reaching values \u200b\u200b500 times higher than the market price, which creates the ideal conditions for the creation of a parallel market, complete with carriers and intermediaries.