Jaguar Land Rover suspends work at UK car factories over world computer chip shortage

Jaguar Land Rover has announced that production at two of its manufacturing plants is to be suspended due to supply chain disruption caused by the pandemic. 

Output at the Castle Bromwich and Halewood factories will be temporarily halted from Monday, amid a worldwide shortage of semi-conductors caused by US-China trade tensions and supply disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Demand for the chips which are used in electronics like computers has soared as people worked from home during the lockdown

Jaguar Land Rover has announced that production at two of its manufacturing plants is to be suspended

Output at its third factory in Solihull will continue, the company said.  

In a statement JLR said: ‘Like other automotive manufacturers, we are currently experiencing some COVID-19 supply chain disruption, including the global availability of semi-conductors, which is having an impact on our production schedules and our ability to meet global demand for some of our vehicles.

‘As a result, we have adjusted production schedules for certain vehicles which means that our Castle Bromwich and Halewood manufacturing plants will be operating a limited period of non-production from Monday 26th April.

‘We are working closely with affected suppliers to resolve the issues and minimise the impact on customer orders wherever possible.’ 

The shortage of chips is hitting other car makers as well as JLR. 

Mercedes-Benz car maker Daimler AG on Friday warned that the global semiconductor chip shortage may continue to impact its sales in the second quarter.

Daimler said that although ‘visibility is limited at present’, it assumes some recovery in the availability of chips in the second half of this year. 

The chip shortage has forced a number of other major automakers to curtail production, including General Motors Co, Stellantis, Ford Motor Co and Daimler’s German rival Volkswagen AG.

Earlier this week, Daimler cut working hours for up to 18,500 employees and said it would temporarily halt production at two plants in Germany due to the chip shortage.

Cars have become increasingly dependent on chips for everything from computer management of engines for better fuel economy to driver-assistance features such as emergency braking.

There are a kaleidoscope of factors negatively affecting chip manufacturing at the moment, but PIMCO's Geraldine Sundstrom suggests two main reasons: US-China trade tensions and supply disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic

There are a kaleidoscope of factors negatively affecting chip manufacturing at the moment, but PIMCO’s Geraldine Sundstrom suggests two main reasons: US-China trade tensions and supply disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic 

Commenting on the shortage, David Leggett, automotive analyst at GlobalData, said: ‘Daimler’s warnings today are the latest in a long line of warnings and actions from vehicle companies being adversely impacted by shortages of semiconductor components. Without critical semiconductor components that govern multiple areas of vehicle functionality, vehicles are simply not able to be finished for sale.

‘The electronic content in modern vehicles is estimated to account for some 30 per cent of a bill of materials, with the prospect of that increasing to 50 per cent by 2030. As a result, automotive production is as reliant on computer chips as the consumer electronics industry.

‘This problem will take some time to fix. Semiconductor wafer foundries are expensive facilities to build and lead times are long – six to nine months is the timeline commonly cited.

‘What does the auto industry think? GlobalData asked more than 100 auto industry professionals for their view. Some 47% said they thought the shortages could last until the end of this year while a further 32% said they thought the shortages would last into 2022.

‘It’s becoming clear that a short-term fix is increasingly unlikely. Indeed, the problem of semiconductor shortages and subsequent output disruption in the automotive industry could even worsen later in the year as market demand for vehicles rises.’

The Covid pandemic has driven up demand for semiconductor chips and suppliers are struggling to adjust, hitting output at a number of automotive giants.

Away from automotive manufacturers, Samsung has cancelled its Galaxy Note 21 model, and Apple supplier Foxconn warns that parts will be delayed until next year. 

On Wednesday, carmaker Stellantis said it would replace digital speedometers with more old-fashioned analogue ones in one of its Peugeot models, as the fallout continues.

Renault’s finance chief said today that car production fell by tens of thousands of vehicles in the first quarter as a result of the shortage. 

A severe shortage of computer chips is holding back companies across the globe – What is behind the scarcity and will the situation improve soon?

By Harry Wise for This is Money 

The world is suffering from a significant shortage of semiconductors, the chips used in almost every technology nowadays, from laptops to televisions and video games consoles.

Major automotive giants have had to scale back production, while Samsung has cancelled its Galaxy Note 21 model, and Apple supplier Foxconn warns that parts will be delayed until next year.

New analysis from investment firm PIMCO suggests that while the shortage will be somewhat alleviated soon, demand for semiconductors will continue to grow as it finds use in new ways. But how did we arrive at this position and what will be its long-term consequences?

The worldwide chip shortage has caused automotive firms to halt production of certain vehicles. General Motors stopped building its Chevrolet Equinox vehicles (pictured above)

The worldwide chip shortage has caused automotive firms to halt production of certain vehicles. General Motors stopped building its Chevrolet Equinox vehicles (pictured above)

What are the causes of the shortage?

There are a kaleidoscope of factors negatively affecting chip manufacturing at the moment, but PIMCO’s Geraldine Sundstrom suggests two main reasons: US-China trade tensions and supply disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Many Chinese chipmakers rely heavily on American technology to make chips, but after the Trump administration began imposing limits on technology exports to China, companies started stockpiling chip technology, thereby creating scarcity.

Then the pandemic started. Orders for electronic goods such as PCs climbed, but chips for cars declined and semiconductor makers switched away from industrial chips. When car companies saw orders pick up again, they were hit with a shortage.

On top of this have been natural disasters: the February Texas storm, which shut down the state’s computer-chip facilities, and a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in Japan that halted operations at factories run by chipmaker Renesas. All have combined to make this shortage potentially the worst the electronics industry has ever witnessed.

What has been the effect on manufacturers?

In February, analytics firm IHS Markit observed that lead times – the length between receiving and fulfilling orders – for three-quarters of semiconductor parts had risen while 18 per cent had seen their increase by five to ten weeks.

It noted that the car sector had been especially impacted by shortages. Volkswagen halted production of Audi and VW brands in Europe, China and North America, and General Motors stopped building its Chevrolet Malibu and Equinox models.

Toyota and Honda are two other firms to have been affected, and IHS Markit estimates that the shortage will cost the industry $60billion in lost sales this year.

Meanwhile, chip manufacturers have been struggling to ramp up production. The world’s biggest semiconductor maker – Taiwanese firm TSMC – is putting $100billion towards expansion, but their factories require a lot of water, and Taiwan is currently experiencing a major drought.

Will this make electrical goods more expensive?

Sundstrom says PIMCO have noticed the scarcity is having inflationary effects among prices for IT hardware and – for the first time in decades – Chinese home appliance manufacturers.

Bitcoin's creators - known as miners - are buying a lot of computers and high-end chips, adding to worries of shortages and higher prices in the semiconductor market

Bitcoin’s creators – known as miners – are buying a lot of computers and high-end chips, adding to worries of shortages and higher prices in the semiconductor market

‘This also partly reflects insufficient supply of raw materials, such as substrates or wafers. The macroeconomic implication is that supply shortages could boost prices and shrink retail sales and margins for semiconductor-intensive devices,’ she remarks.

However, she does not anticipate rising chip costs for automotive firms to have a massive effect on inflation because even a 10 per cent rise in car chip prices would result in only a 0.2 per cent jump in production costs.

One source of inflationary pressure is coming from Bitcoin. The virtual currency’s creators – known as miners – are buying a lot of computers and high-end chips, adding to worries about paucity and price rises.

How long with this last, and what effects will it have?

Sundstrom says that though she expects the shortfall to ‘ease somewhat’ towards the latter half of 2021, particularly for car companies, high sales of semiconductors will endure.

PIMCO's Geraldine Sundstrom believes Asian countries with a strong semiconductor industry like Taiwan and South Korea will continue to do well over the next three to five years

PIMCO’s Geraldine Sundstrom believes Asian countries with a strong semiconductor industry like Taiwan and South Korea will continue to do well over the next three to five years

For the longer term, she forecasts a ‘semiconductor supercycle’ – a long period of solid demand above its long-term price trend – where there are considerable orders for the chips for use in both old and new technologies.

Asian countries with a strong semiconductor industry like Taiwan and South Korea will benefit for the next three to five years, she says, as well as chip equipment makers and market leaders that can bargain well for chips.

Hargreaves Lansdown’s Laura Hoy points to suppliers Nvidia, Applied Materials and Intel as potential beneficiaries from an increase in chip prices and the broader changes affecting the world economy.

She states: ‘The shift toward remote working, rollout of 5G and electric vehicle production will continue to support demand while suppliers are bogged down by the ongoing tension between the US and China. That’s likely to increase chip prices and shrink margins for everyone using them.

‘As for chip users, larger, more established companies like Apple are at an advantage as they have the clout to negotiate better prices and secure chip deliveries. It’s bad news for smaller players, like the wave of new EV companies, who will see their already thin, and often non-existent, margins deteriorate further.’