Microchip Chip Shortage

[Ioannis]

Many car companies have stopped car production putting thousands of workers in standby because of a chip that is out of stock.

Added to that, a factory of Renesas destroyed because of a fire.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis some said that production of chips etc was turned to covid related products, like IR thermometers and ventilators. OK, I can agree in a degree but since all these do require MCU's I cannot understand why MCU's are not more in stock then...

I do understand that transportation has major problem now and prices of a container has been skyrocketed but also this cannot explain why MCU's are not in stock.

All the above could simply increase the cost of the product, not vanish them...

Am I the only one that suspects there are games played behind the scenes?

Ioannis

[rsocor01]

Many car manufacturers canceled their chip orders at the beginning of the pandemic. The chip companies retooled their equipment to make chips for the electrodomestic industry. Many items like tablets and cellphones were in high demand during the pandemic. Now, the car manufacturers don't have enough chips for their cars.

Part of the problem is that the chip manufacturers have to keep up with the demand and they haven’t been able to do that. Here is a good article in Popular Science that talks about this problem.

https://www.popsci.com/technology/global-chip-shortage/

[peterdeco1]

Are you looking for a particular Microchip part?