The shortage of semiconductors still hurts Samsung, Honda and Volkswagen

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On Wednesday, Samsung SSNLF co-CEO Koh Dong-jin told investors the South Korean technology giant was having problems with its supply chain. The company is struggling to address the shortage of semiconductors and could continue to experience problems in the second quarter, he added.
Meanwhile, the auto industry – which has already been shaken by the shortage in recent months – points to deteriorating conditions.
Honda HMC and Volkswagen VLKAF both said this week that computer chip cracking had hampered their operations, especially in the United States. In a statement Wednesday, Honda confirmed that it would temporarily suspend production in most of its North American factories next week, in part due to the lack of semiconductors.

“We have continued to manage a number of supply chain issues in recent weeks related to the impact of Covid-19, port congestion, microchip shortages and severe winter weather,” said a company spokesman.

As a result, factories from Ohio to Ontario are expected to go dark for a long time next week, and “somehow all of our auto factories in the US and Canada will be affected,” the representative said.

Other major car manufacturers, including Ford F. Fiat Chrysler FCAU GM GM and Nissan NSANF have also identified problems. The average car consumes between 50 and 150 chips and these are increasingly used in driver assistance systems and navigation controls.
Some GM truck owners will pay more at the pump due to a shortage of computer chips

“In 2021 we will suffer,” Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess told CNN’s Julia Chatterley on Tuesday. “Not overall [vehicle] line-up, but some models may be limited. “

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

That is in line with estimates from UBS analysts, who previously predicted significant production loss for Europe’s largest carmaker in the first three months of the year.

Diess does not see the problem diminishing quickly either.

“We see more restrictions coming due to the difficult climate conditions in America, where we had two or three semiconductor plants [the] grid for more than… a week or so, ”he said.

According to the CEO, the company has also suffered some disruption recently due to an earthquake in Japan.

“It’s really a combination of factors that limit semiconductor supply,” 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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