Hard Numbers: China’s chip stocks, Black Sea bottleneck, COVID’s transatlantic routine, Indians at the US border

8.6 billion: China’s leading microchip manufacturers lost 8.6 billion in share value on Monday after the US imposed new restrictions on the export of semiconductor-related technologies to China. Remember, 21st-century great power competition is increasingly looking like a bowl of chips.

120: Is the UN-brokered Ukraine grain export deal taking on water? In recent days, the number of vessels waiting to sail to or from Ukrainian ports hit a record of 120. The culprit? Long waits at the Istanbul-based mandatory inspection station set up as part of the deal to assuage Russian concerns that grain boats could smuggle weapons into Ukraine.

8 million: If prior patterns hold, rising COVID cases in Europe right now could herald a fresh wave of the illness in the US this fall and winter. So far, fewer than 8 million Americans have gotten the latest round of booster shots since they became widely available in early September.

16,290: US officials at the southern border have detained a record number of asylum-seekers from an unlikely place this year: India. Since last October, 16,290 of that country’s citizens have been taken into custody at the Mexican border, many of them seeking refuge from persecution based on their religion, caste, or sexual orientation.

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