Title: The Microchips Are Down for Cars as the Shortage Continues
Headings: The Microchips Are Down for Cars as the Shortage Continues
The Microchips Are Down for Cars as the Shortage Continues
If it has electronics, it’s affected by the global chip shortage—and that means cars, too
Why is there a global microchip shortage, anyway?
It’s going to be here for a while
Toyota’s meticulous plan to survive the chip shortage was a decade in the making https://t.co/FukLPTAjl2

Content: Because people were working and staying at home, they needed and/or wanted to buy more computers, webcams, and game consoles, The Drive and Wirecutter explain. However, even before the pandemic, the foundries making the actual chips were already basically working flat out, CNBC reports. As a result, they simply haven’t been able to keep up with the increased worldwide demand. The tariffs imposed by former President Trump, though, are making things worse. These tariffs forced microchip buyers to seek out alterantive, often-overbooked manufacturers, Reuters reports. And automakers’ ‘just-in-time’ manufacturing strategies meant they were lower-priority customers with smaller orders than companies like Sony. So, when the car companies needed chips again, they were forced further down the waiting line for an increasingly-small supply, Automotive News explains. A Jiejie Semiconductor employee makes a silicon wafer destined for microchips in Nantong, China | Xu Congjun/VCG via Getty Images
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Elemental chaos also has a part to play in the microchip shortage.