Why the chip "famine" has turned the auto industry into turmoil

We know that modern cars are so rich in electronics that a shortage of microprocessors can slow down production. If, for example, the chips for digital instrumentation or automatic braking are missing, the car cannot be completed.

And the consequences can be serious: for example, the Stellantis group has decided to stop the Melfi plant, in which the Hybrid Jeeps are also produced, on 15, 16, 22 and 23 February and is already planning other closures until the end of March. The cause is a supplier who communicated, at the last minute, that he could not ship an electronic component due to a lack of chips. GM will also temporarily close three US plants and slow down another for the same reason. Same fate for the Honda plant in the UK, while Volkswagen expects to lose 100,000 cars this first quarter to the so-called ‘chip shortage’.

‘Our companies are doing the necessary’: so Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua publicly responded to a letter received last week from the Due to strong competition from the electronics, IT and medical industries. With the pandemic, the demand for microprocessors has soared due to the demand for medical devices and PCs and tablets for teleworking and distance learning.

Enter-US administration, which acknowledged Taipei’s efforts in the current Semiconductor crisis. The issue of microchips also entered the White House, where a delegation of American car manufacturers was received the other day, worried about the lack of chips used in the electronic components of modern cars.