Officials at
“This is absolutely an industry issue,”
If the chip shortage lasts, production cuts could reduce the inventory of cars, trucks and SUVs for sale in the
Industry officials say semiconductor companies diverted production to consumer electronics during the worst of the COVID-19 slowdown in auto sales last spring. Global automakers were forced to close plants to prevent the spread of the virus. When automakers recovered, there weren't enough chips.
“There have been warning signs about his for months,” said
It takes six to nine months of lead time for the industry to get chips via a complex web of suppliers, Dziczek said. She said she hopes that some of the lead time had passed when the issues began surfacing several months ago, making this a short-term rather than long-term problem. “There's still some coming through, just not the volumes that they thought there would be,” Dziczek said.
In many cases, automakers have stopped making slower-selling vehicles in order to divert the chips to hotter segments of the market, including pickup trucks and SUVs.
"This will minimize the impact of the current semiconductor shortage while ensuring we maintain production at our other North American plants,”
The auto industry is using more semiconductors than ever before in new vehicles with electronic features such as Bluetooth connectivity and driver assist, navigation and hybrid electric systems. Semiconductors are typically silicon chips that perform control and memory functions in products ranging from computers and cellphones to vehicles and microwave ovens.
Auto sales plunged during the first wave of lockdowns in April but have since recovered significant ground.
The shortage in chips required in increasingly automated cars is the latest example of how the semiconductor industry’s ebbs and flows can have ripple effects in products.
Schools districts last summer scrambled to get orders filled for laptops for students still largely going to classes remotely as personal computer makers struggled to secure processors and other components.
The problems started when overseas factories making the chips were forced to shut down in the pandemic’s early stages. The problem was exacerbated last July after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on 11 Chinese companies for alleged labor abuses.
To make matters worse, the schools found themselves competing for laptops against deeper pocketed companies that were also placing huge orders for employees while they worked from home.
Chip shortages also forced Apple to push back the rollout of its latest lineup of iPhones until late October and early November, more than a month later than when the trendsetting company usually releases its top-selling device.
The global semiconductor market is expected to be worth about
Liedtke reported from
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