Semiconductor shortages still hurt Samsung, Honda and Volkswagen

Semiconductor shortages still hurt Samsung, Honda and Volkswagen

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On Wednesday, Samsung (SSNLF) Co-CEO Koh Dong-jin told investors that the South Korean tech giant was having problems with its supply chain. The company is struggling to cope with the semiconductor shortages and may continue to face problems in the second quarter, he added.
Meanwhile, the auto industry – which has been shaken by scarcity in recent months – points to worsening conditions.
Honda (HMC) and Volkswagen (VLKAF) both said this week that the computer chip crisis has hurt their operations, particularly in the United States. In a statement on Wednesday, Honda confirmed that it would temporarily suspend production next week at most of its North American plants, in part because of the lack of semiconductors.

“We continue to manage a number of supply chain problems related to the impact of Covid-19, congestion at multiple ports, microchip shortages and severe winter in the past few weeks,” said a company spokesman.

As a result, factories in Ohio and Ontario are expected to be closed for some stretches next week, and “in some way, all of our auto factories in the US and Canada will be affected,” said the representative.

Other major automakers, including Ford (F), Fiat Chrysler (FCAU), GM (GM) and Nissan (NSANF) it also signaled problems. The average car uses between 50 and 150 chips, and they are increasingly being deployed in driver assistance and navigation control systems.
Some GM truck owners will pay more at the pump because of the lack of a computer chip

“In 2021, we will suffer from this,” Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said CNN’s Julia Chatterley in an interview on Tuesday. “Not at all [vehicle] line, but some models may be limited. “

Diess estimated that the automaker “has probably lost 100,000 cars this year, which will be very difficult to recover in the second half.”

This is in line with estimates by analysts at UBS, who previously projected a significant loss of production for Europe’s largest automaker in the first three months of the year.

Diess also doesn’t see the problem go away anytime soon.

“We see more restrictions coming, because of the difficult climatic conditions in America, where we had two, three semiconductor factories shut down [the] grade for more … a week or more, “he said.

The company also recently suffered some disruptions due to an earthquake in Japan, according to the chief executive.

“It is really a combination of factors that restrict the supply of semiconductors,” he told CNN Business. “We hope to overcome this situation.”

– CNN’s Yoonjung Seo and Hanna Ziady contributed to this report.

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