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Friday, August 6th, 2021

The chip shortage is getting worse

Author:     Rebecca Heilweil
Source:     Vox
Publication Date:     Aug 5, 2021, 12:20pm EDT
 Link: The chip shortage is getting worse
Stephan:   Benjamin Franklin, in Poor Richard's Almanac in 1758, recorded the proverb, "For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost. And all this for the want of a horsehoe nail. The reality of that proverb's truth is playing out in the 21st century over the want of a computer chip. This story is not getting a lot of attention, it seems so minuscule and mundane, but it is hamstringing a wide spectrum of industries.
New trucks sit next to a race track at the Kentucky Speedway as Ford waits for more semiconductor shipments to arrive.
Credit: Jeffrey Scott Dean/Bloomberg/Getty

Starting next week, General Motors is again halting the assembly lines of several pickup truck plants because the company doesn’t have enough computer chips. The plants had been back up and running for just a week following a shutdown in July, which was also caused by the chip shortage.

These production halts may not stop anytime soon. “I do think we’ll continue to see impact this year, and it will have a tail into next year,” warned CEO Mary Barra on Wednesday. And Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger similarly predicted last month that things won’t get back to normal for at least a year or two.

Now, the impact of the supply crunch is spreading to consumer tech. Apple CEO Tim Cook warned last week that a limited supply of semiconductors would hurt sales of iPhones. Microsoft is struggling to make enough Xbox consoles and Surface laptops. Elon Musk told a court last month that the chip shortage meant Tesla would only […]

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3 Comments

  1. Albus Eddie on Friday, August 6, 2021 at 9:21 am

    This is actually excellent news. It may teach us the value of products uncommented to the internet and computers. Imagine, a refrigerator that just keeps food cold, a telephone that just makes calls, and a home that is lived in without spying upon the occupants. Revolutionary!

  2. Sam Crespi on Saturday, August 7, 2021 at 9:28 am

    I see this as an opening for supporting and using public transportation. Ride shares within our community. In a way, this is what we’ve been waiting for..

  3. Rev. Dean on Saturday, August 7, 2021 at 1:02 pm

    I totally agree with you Stephan. I worked at a company that made Tantalum capacitors which were used in the space shuttles as well as in my own father’s pacemaker (which gave him 10 more years of life). Surely we can make the chips we need if a company puts their minds behind the concept and spends the time and energy to make them. Chips are easy to make.