Another fire at another semiconductor plant

[pucho812]

  This is not good.

  https://bobbyowsinskiblog.com/2021/04/07/semiconductor-chip-fire/

 

[living sounds]

Damn.

 

[user 37518]

Wait, what was the first one?

 

[pucho812]

the AKM fire was pretty recent.

 

[JohnRoberts]

That sounds like it may be the same fire, but there was also an earthquake damage in the region.

I am suspicious of the auto industry blaming the chip makers for chip shortages. Auto manufacturing supply chains are mature. Getting enough chips when you need them requires competent long range forecasting. I wouldn't be surprised if auto sales were under forecast. Auto ownership trends are a moving target these days.

Of course the March chip factory fire in Japan will have a real impact.

JR

 

 

[living sounds]

I can't find the link to the story, but the essence was that during last year's lockdown there was a warning of shortages, causing manufacturers to gobble up stock and actually cause the dreaded shortage. Same mechanism as the great toilet paper and pasta shortage of 2020. They expected the problem to persist, maybe for years, because the supply chain is so finely balanced and cannot be reconfigured quickly.

All of this on top of factory lockdowns, shipping delays etc.

 

[cyrano]

That sounds like it may be the same fire, but there was also an earthquake damage in the region.

I am suspicious of the auto industry blaming the chip makers for chip shortages. Auto manufacturing supply chains are mature. Getting enough chips when you need them requires competent long range forecasting. I wouldn't be surprised if auto sales were under forecast. Auto ownership trends are a moving target these days.

Of course the March chip factory fire in Japan will have a real impact.

That's exactly what happened, John. Nearly all car manufacturers underestimated sales because of Covid. Their time slots in IC manufacturing were sold to other industries. Much to their amazement car sales didn't drop significantly.

It seems Toyota is the only manufacturer that actually has backup stock.