While the world has been dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic, the tech industry, like it, has also been dealt with a huge blow of its own due to the ongoing global semiconductor shortage. And perhaps the industry hit hardest as a result of this is the automotive industry.
According to an estimate by AlixPartners, a company specializing in business consultancy, the whole of the automobile industry could be losing around $210 billion in revenue this year. This estimated figure has actually been raised by nearly double since May, as earlier it was thought that the lost revenue could be amounting to around $110 billion. Naturally, the number of forgone potential vehicles to be produced has also shot up proportionately as now the firm predicts 7.7 million car units lost whereas back in May, the figure was 3.9 million.
Essentially this is pushing the backs of automobile manufacturers against the wall and Mark Wakefield, global co-leader of the automotive and industrial practice at AlixPartners, says there"s "no room for error for automakers and suppliers right now" and the automakers will have to "make sure they’re undertaking only the best options".
Back in June, Andrew Tilton, Chief Asia economist at Goldman Sachs, predicted that the silicon shortage would be over pretty quickly as according to his estimates, the world was already passing through its worst phase then.
Current Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, however, wasn"t very optimistic as he couldn"t see an end to the crisis anytime soon.
Source: AlixPartners