CHIP Related Problems

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DaveBerlin
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Post by DaveBerlin »

There are more and more comments being stated on the Forum in relation to this major problem of the Chip Shortage especially regarding the New J12. I have been reading some articles on the reasons and the problem does appear not only to be a Chip related one but also a General Supply Problem of Steel, Plastics, Glass etc which is snowballing the whole Auto Industry, here are just some of the comments found FYI - I just Hope this is of some Interest Dave 😉

I was just interested to find out where the Problems were and what in fact existed :
What automakers hoped would be a temporary setback simply isn't happening. A major Japanese Chip supplier “Rohm” said it foresees chip shortages throughout next year. It's not that the company can't build chips quickly enough, but the fact that its own supply chains (materials) are involved in serious bottlenecks. “Rohm” have stated that its lines continue to operate at 100% capacity as it works to fill backlogged orders from automotive customers. Ford, Toyota and Honda are three of its largest customers. But orders are "overwhelming" and major investments to boost production won't create quick returns. The company will invest another $636 million to further maximize production, but equipment to boost output isn't arriving on time, which is an additional problem to the general supply chain problems for the chip maker.

General Motors, Ford, Toyota and others announced additional Factory Downtime at their production facilities. Toyota, in particular, cut 40% of its Global Output, as it looks to tougher times ahead with fewer chips. Auto sales are beginning to feel a real impact as inventory grows even tighter. While dealers and automakers bank profits from customers willing to pay a premium on new vehicles, sales will start to contract with too few new cars to go around.

The 2020-21 global chip shortage is an ongoing crisis in which the demand for semiconductor chips is greater than the supply, affecting more than 169 industries and it has led to major shortages and queues amongst consumers for graphics cards, video game consoles, cars, and other products that require semiconductors

The cause of the global chip crisis is a combination of different events with the effect of the COVID-19 being the primary reason, then the China-USA Trade War and the Taiwan drought in 2021. Due to global lockdowns chip production facilities were shut down, leading to the depletion of stocks. The result was more people staying at home and upgrading their electronic devices, such as webcams, monitors and computers in order to work at home and to be entertained. In the fourth quarter of 2020, traditional computer sales saw a 26.1% growth over the previous year.

In 2020, the United States government placed restrictions on “SMIC”, China's biggest chip manufacturer, which made it harder for them to sell to companies with American ties. These restrictions forced companies to use other manufacturing plants like “TSMC” (Taiwan) and Samsung, although these were also working at full capacity.

Taiwan is the leader of the global semiconductor industry, with “TSMC” alone accounting for more than 50-60% of the global market in 2020. In 2021, Taiwan experienced its worst drought in more than half a century, leading to problems among chip manufacturers that use large amounts of ultra-pure water to clean their factories and wafers. Taiwan confirmed that its Chip Makers we’re expanding production and bolstering output, which could mean that by years end more Chips will be available to normalize production of cars in the EU / USA.

A Japanese factory “Renesas Electronics Corp” which supplies 30% of the global market for microcontroller units used in cars caught fire in March and stated it would take 100 days for them to get back to normal production.

The Chip shortage is also beginning to reach the Smartphone Industry, also where the likes of Samsung and Apple had so far been shielded from the fallout by stockpiling critical components like memory chips.

There have been recent comments from “JATCO” (owned by Nissan) stating that the supply chain problems could soon end, due to the ramp up of production between now and next March, but Chips could still be an issue well into 2022 and when they are available who gets them ?
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DaveBerlin
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Post by DaveBerlin »

Just some of the announcements here - Dave ☹️
The situation last week here was that 3 Auto Manufacturers have announced Temporary Closures due to the Chip shortage. Opel now owned by “Stellantis” Group will close their Plant in Eisenach until 2022 the longest stoppage yet, but this would benefit their French Factory in Sochaux, France .
Germany’s Auto Industry has been hard hit with supply problems at VW, Ford, BMW and Daimler, all are facing stop start production. VW has announced a 2 week stoppage at its Flagship Plant in Wolfsburg having recently stopped in August.
US Ford announced they will put back the production start early October until the end of the month again due to the lack of Chips for conventional and E-Vehicles. The other major problem here like many countries is the shortage of basic supplies like timber, steel and plastics, but the Chip shortages are continuing to hit Germany's manufacturers hard.
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DaveBerlin
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Post by DaveBerlin »

Interesting - Chinese Bad Boys ! I found these articles which to me are interesting regarding the supply problems at present - Dave 🥴

“China’s regulatory agency is launching an investigation into chip distributors in the auto industry, it said on Tuesday, citing suspicions of price gouging. The firms were suspected of driving up prices, based on price monitoring and reporting clues, the agency said in its statement, and vowed to investigate and punish illegal acts such as hoarding, price-gouging and collusion”

China regulators have a new target: chip distributors | Business and Economy News | Al Jazeera : https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/ ... stributors

“Shortages in electronic components and semiconductors are costing OEMs dear in production and logistics. Losses in output are likely to impact overall new vehicle sales volumes as well. However, headlines around semiconductors and computer chips can miss the fact that many other commodities are currently in short supply, from leather and fabrics, to steel and rubber.”

Material shortages are forcing a supply chain rethink in automotive | Analysis | Automotive Logistics : https://www.automotivelogistics.media/i ... 01.article
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DaveBerlin
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Post by DaveBerlin »

So it ain’t just Chips / Autos that are in short supply according to the Beeb - Dave 🤨

BBC News: Shortage problem: What's the UK running low on and why? : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58721085
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Post by Foffer »

Thanks Dave for some interesting reading.

I think the modern world with its Just-In-Time and minimum stretched labour forces cannot react to sudden demands, everything is built for steady running. This pandemic has put a finely balanced worldwide machine out of balance in such a way that the repercussions are likely to go on for a long time
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DaveBerlin
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Post by DaveBerlin »

If anything Disasterous happens between China & Taipan - goodbye Chip Supplies and new Cars - Hopefully not ! Dave 😉

China-Taiwan tensions are raising fears of a conflict. In Taipei, however, people don't seem worried - CNN : https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/14/asia/tai ... index.html
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Post by QaiFan »

I have also been reading quite a bit about these conflicts. War between the US and China is... inevitable. Chips will be the least of our problems! We won't have any gasoline, so why bother buying cars.
If Europe can stay out of this new World War we'll be the lucky ones, but I sure doubt it. This future war has been years in the making.
As we all know... people never learn.
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