Photo: GM
The lack of chips has wreaked havoc in many industries out there, and it’s not a secret that the automotive world has been hit really hard by the extremely constrained supply across the world.
The semiconductor crisis, however, will soon be just a bad memory, one of the largest companies in the tech sector claims, as the existing inventory will “fundamentally” improve in the second half of the year.
Xiaomi, one of the most important names in the smartphone race, says we should expect much better times towards the end of the year, with the chip shortage to ease off starting with the second quarter.
Xiaomi President Wang Xiang is obviously very optimistic, though, on the other hand, the recovery depends on a lot of factors that carmakers are still closely monitoring.
First and foremost, the end of the chip shortage seems impossible to predict due to many reasons, including the war in Ukraine. After the invasion started by the Russian military more than three weeks ago, Ukrainian neon providers had no other option than to suspend the production of the gas.
The neon is being used for the lasers that build the chips, yet manufacturers claim their current operations are yet to be affected.
At the same time, the war itself is also a big concern, as it could create other disruptions in the supply chain. So while the chip inventory could improve, carmakers might end up facing other shortages due to the geopolitical turmoil.
In the meantime, carmakers are still looking into ways to lower the impact of the chip shortage on their daily operations. Ford, for example, has suspended production at some of its European plants due to the same chip problem, while other companies have started shipping vehicles without some non-safety systems in an attempt to reduce the number of required semiconductors.
At the end of the day, it’s understandable carmakers can’t be too optimistic over the end of the chip shortage, but if the Xiaomi president is right, the moment we’ve been expecting for so long may not be too far.
Xiaomi, one of the most important names in the smartphone race, says we should expect much better times towards the end of the year, with the chip shortage to ease off starting with the second quarter.
Xiaomi President Wang Xiang is obviously very optimistic, though, on the other hand, the recovery depends on a lot of factors that carmakers are still closely monitoring.
First and foremost, the end of the chip shortage seems impossible to predict due to many reasons, including the war in Ukraine. After the invasion started by the Russian military more than three weeks ago, Ukrainian neon providers had no other option than to suspend the production of the gas.
The neon is being used for the lasers that build the chips, yet manufacturers claim their current operations are yet to be affected.
At the same time, the war itself is also a big concern, as it could create other disruptions in the supply chain. So while the chip inventory could improve, carmakers might end up facing other shortages due to the geopolitical turmoil.
In the meantime, carmakers are still looking into ways to lower the impact of the chip shortage on their daily operations. Ford, for example, has suspended production at some of its European plants due to the same chip problem, while other companies have started shipping vehicles without some non-safety systems in an attempt to reduce the number of required semiconductors.
At the end of the day, it’s understandable carmakers can’t be too optimistic over the end of the chip shortage, but if the Xiaomi president is right, the moment we’ve been expecting for so long may not be too far.
Google News