I've mentioned supply chain issues before. This is not getting nearly enough attention

[27 Time World Champions]

Cargo ships anchored off NY and LA face 4-WEEK wait to berth and trains in Chicago are backed up 25 miles with global supply chain on the brink of collapse: Americans face shortages of cars, shoes and exercise gear as holiday season looms

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10049621/Cargo-ships-anchored-NY-LA-face-4-WEEK-wait-unload-amid-unprecedented-supply-chain-crisis.html

 

[thomas]

Elon Musk says USA must double electricity production for EVs. So the taxpayer will pay for the EV infrastructure but the avg. American can't afford to buy an EV. Something is not adding up with that. 

Will we have 700 ft. windmills everywhere but no trees or birds? It seems this EV thing is way ahead of itself.

NOISY

[Independent]

I Firmly believe that China has a reason why they are stalling on the Computer chips needed for the Automotive Industry. The reason is to kill our economy! The economy in the US is driven by the Automotive Industry the % is about 70% if there's No Chips then Theres no Sales of Vehicles which drives the US economy. Pres. Donald Trump was trying to bring that (computer chips) industry back to the US. But you know the rest. Wonder if Biden has something to do with this (the china connection) like lining his back pocket with his Son Hunter!!!

[Bingoloid]

7 hours ago, Independent said:

I Firmly believe that China has a reason why they are stalling on the Computer chips needed for the Automotive Industry.

China hardly dominates chip manufacturing, and absolutely not MCUs.

Chinese manufacturers are struggling to find parts just like everybody else, and their one big player, SMIC, is not an important supplier to U.S. auto plants. (They did provide some in the past, but those orders were moved out of China after the tariffs made it too expensive.) Beijing can't even get SMIC to manufacture chips for Chinese auto plants, they're busy selling to other industries, just like everybody else.

What's happening here is very much like what happened with lumber prices. At the beginning of the pandemic, automakers cancelled orders for these parts believing car sales would decline, and they were wrong. Meanwhile, electronics sales kept growing in other industries. Televisions, computers, phones, game consoles. Capacity worldwide was tooled to make what would actually sell. Now automakers want their orders filled again, but there's just nowhere to go.

There's a scramble on to build additional chip manufacturing capacity everywhere, but that does not happen overnight and also has some very specific site demands, like large volumes of pure water. The biggest manufacturer right now is Taiwan's TSMC, and they've already had to resort to delivering enough water to some of their factories by truck.