It’s currently unclear how long the ongoing chip shortage might last, and predictions vary depending on who we ask. Some, like Ford CEO Jim Farley, believe that production could begin to return to normal as soon as Q3 of 2021, while others, like Taiwanese government officials, aren’t so sure. Then there are the handful of experts and industry folks that believe the ongoing chip shortage could last for years, a camp that includes Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, who recently shared his bearish view on the subject earlier this month.
Nothing has apparently happened in the weeks since to convince Gelsinger that this might change, either, despite the best efforts from chipmakers and government officials to ramp up production and breathe some life into the industry. “But while the industry has taken steps to address near-term constraints it could still take a couple of years for the ecosystem to address shortages of foundry capacity, substrates, and components,” Gelsinger said while speaking during the Computex trade show in Taipei, according to Reuters.
Intel previously said that it intends to begin producing automotive chips within the coming months to help the ailing industry following a $20 million dollar investment that will go toward expanding the chipmaker’s existing plant, as well as the construction of two new facilities. “We plan to expand to other locations in the U.S. and Europe, ensuring a sustainable and secure semiconductor supply chain for the world,” Gelsinger added.
So far, both automaker and auto suppliers have felt the effects of the chip shortage, but Ford has been affected more than any of its peers thus far. Most recently, The Blue Oval was forced to cut 93,000 vehicles from its production schedule in one week, and has lost 324,616 units to the shortage in North America alone, with numbers that continue to climb with each passing week.
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Comments
Don’t know what else to add to this ongoing issue, other than to say…lesson learned…painfully so, but learned.
To your point….I hope all American industry is looking over the horizon as to what the next ‘must have’ supply shortage will be. While COVID was not and could not have been ‘planned’ for, it does as you say illustrate ‘lesson learned’. Factor in malevolent political regimes and it all gets very dicey! From a business perspective, FORD cannot be profitable if it decides to develop its own design and production capacity for its parts. On this point the bean counters have a significant impact on steering the future of FORD/LINCOLN brand. You know the saying… ‘if it was easy everybody would be doing it’!
It would be interesting to know how Ford selects which vehicles are cut from production. Do they give preferential treatments to Ford Dealerships, fill their orders, cut none dealer orders? Or do they give preferential treatment to customer special orders, and cut dealer orders that will sit on a lot for a week or two?
It’s also possible they build heavily loaded vehicles that have a higher profit margin, and cut lower profit margin vehicles i.e. build a F350 turbo diesel King Ranch, but cut a F350 gas XL.
The sad part is vehicles can be built without ‘chips’ or electronic gobbledegook distractions. I’m imagining said vehicles be less expensive to build/buy and infinitely safer.
Yeah, I know, that would be too easy and Farley just doesn’t get it.
Make the chips in the USA!!!