---
title: "Yes, the Chip Shortage Is Still Kneecapping Global Car Production"
description: "Several automakers will reportedly idle plants and reduce production next month."
date: "2021-05-22"
modified: "2021-05-22"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin V. Shaw"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kristin-shaw"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/40739/yes-the-chip-shortage-is-still-kneecapping-global-car-production"
categories:
  - "Car Buying"
  - "Car Tech"
  - "News"
---

# Yes, the Chip Shortage Is Still Kneecapping Global Car Production

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2021/05/Semi-chip-HERO.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

A tiny piece of silicon [continues to affect the global supply chain](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/40589/the-global-microchip-shortage-explained-and-what-it-means-for-your-next-car-purchase>), and Nissan and Mitsubishi are among the latest crop of automakers to report delays and shutdowns. Today, [Autoblog reported](<https://www.autoblog.com/2021/05/22/nissan-suzuki-mitsubishi-chip-shortage/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000618>) that Nissan will idle its factory in Kyushu, Japan on June 24, 25 and 28 to make adjustments. Suzuki and Mitsubishi will be reducing production and [halting assembly lines](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/39779/all-chevy-camaro-production-stops-due-to-chip-shortage>) as well.

"A global shortage of semiconductors has affected parts procurement in the auto sector. Due to the shortage, Nissan is adjusting production and taking necessary actions to ensure recovery," a Nissan spokeswoman said [via Autoblog](<https://www.autoblog.com/2021/05/22/nissan-suzuki-mitsubishi-chip-shortage/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000618>).

![message-editor%2F1621717546477-semichip3.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1621717546477-semichip3.jpg>)
**Associated Press**

The impact of the [semiconductor chip shortage](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/40458/thousands-of-unfinished-ford-super-duty-trucks-are-parked-at-kentucky-speedway-due-to-chip-shortage>) on the automotive market has been vast, resulting in competition between carmakers and electronics manufacturers. Just one of these chips is incredibly small–five-hundredths of the size of a human hair–and is extremely complicated to build. Making [semiconductors](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/40458/thousands-of-unfinished-ford-super-duty-trucks-are-parked-at-kentucky-speedway-due-to-chip-shortage>) requires a clean room devoid of any dust, because even one speck can damage the electronics, flushing time and money down the drain. You might think a surgery suite is clean (and it is) but a semiconductor clean room is next-level uncontaminated.

“Manufacturing a chip typically takes more than three months and involves giant factories, dust-free rooms, multi-million-dollar machines, molten tin and lasers,” Ian King, Adrian Leung, and Demetrios Pogkas [reported on Bloomberg.com](<https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-chip-production-why-hard-to-make-semiconductors/>) on May 5. “The end goal is to transform wafers of silicon—an element extracted from plain sand—into a network of billions of tiny switches called transistors that form the basis of the circuitry that will eventually give a phone, computer, car, washing machine or satellite crucial capabilities.”

Last month, Reuters reported that the current U.S. administration proposed $50 billion to support chip manufacturing and research as part of a $2 trillion infrastructure proposal. More than 80 percent of global chip production is based in Asia; the U.S. produces about 12 percent and "chip independence" is a goal.

https://youtube.com/embed/rEbwzLVBxhg

[CNBC's Jim Cramer](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEbwzLVBxhg>) predicts the chip shortage will right itself this quarter, and that remains to be seen. Last year’s pandemic shutdown affected production for manufacturers around the globe, putting everyone behind. Like a horrible layer cake, rumblings of a chip shortage started picking up in December of last year, and it has been a snowballing issue. No one knows yet when the problem will be remedied, but the show has to go on and automakers are holding up a massive responsibility to keep production going. A lot of money is at stake, but even more importantly, millions of jobs.

*Got a tip? Send the writer a note: kristin.shaw@thedrive.com*

## Author
Kristin Shaw is the former Weekend Editor for The Drive and a current freelancer in both the automotive and aviation worlds. She’s a big fan of anything car-related and calls on her technology background on the corporate side to explain engineering and high-tech concepts. Now living in her sixth state (New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and now Texas), she is thrilled that working from home is now mainstream.

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