What started out as “temporary” lay-offs earlier this month at General Motors’ plant in Kansas City soon became “indefinite”. Across town, Ford slowed down production of its F150 pick-up truck, the company’s cash cow, and did the same at another facility in Michigan.
The carmakers were responding to a crippling shortage of the indispensable chips that are used to build modern vehicles, for everything from automatic braking systems to airbags and electronically adjusted seats.
The shortages have shone a light on a cyclical corner of the electronics industry where there is often too much or too little supply, a problem that has been exacerbated by unpredictable demand for semiconductors during the coronavirus pandemic.
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