Title: What's causing the chip shortage affecting PS5, cars and more?
Headings: Why there’s a chip shortage that’s hurting everything from the PlayStation 5 to the Chevy Malibu
Why there’s a chip shortage that’s hurting everything from the PlayStation 5 to the Chevy Malibu
Key Points
A huge boom in electronics sales
Business shift to outsourcing slams factories
Trump’s trade war

Content: And they never cut down their orders and have long-term contracts with the foundries,” Gupta said. “ Now that this auto demand peaked faster that the OEMs had expected, autos can’t get back in the queue.” The foundries are aware of the issue. TSMC, which is seen as the most advanced and important foundry, said that it was trying to help the auto companies, and said it would spend as much as $28 billion this year to increase its capacity. “While our capacity is fully utilized with demand from every sector, TSMC is reallocating our wafer capacity to support the worldwide automotive industry,” TSMC said in a statement in January. Car manufacturers also use automotive-grade chips, which are painstakingly “qualified” against binders of industry standards to make sure they’re durable and reliable. “ It is more difficult for the industry to alternatively transition its production lines and supply chains elsewhere,” Trendforce, a consulting group covering the semiconductor industry, wrote in a report last month. Trump’s trade war
Last last year, the U.S. placed restrictions on Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), the biggest foundry in China, barring it from getting advanced chip manufacturing gear, and making it much harder to sell its finished products to companies with U.S. ties. Customers needed to shift their orders to competitors like TSMC, Gupta said. SMIC executives acknowledged that the U.S. move has prevented it from using its full capacity when it said geopolitical factors would prevent it from seizing “this year’s rare market opportunity,” referring to the chip shortage.