Chip shortage remains severe, Musk calls on chip manufacturers to solve

Analysts said that it is understandable that automakers "blame" suppliers when the entire industry is short of chips, but today is the first time Musk has named the suppliers and pointed out that the company is still facing "extreme supply chain constraints." This may mean that people should lower their expectations for Tesla's growth this year, and the goal of delivering 1 million vehicles in 2021 may not be achieved.

Although mainstream analysts expect that the global chip shortage faced by automakers will ease in the second half of this year, the third quarter is already halfway through, and well-known automakers including Tesla and Ford are still suffering from chip shortages.

Tesla CEO Musk responded to a social media post by "Bull Market Queen" Cathie Wood on Thursday, August 12, and rarely criticized two major suppliers as the biggest constraint on car production. He wrote:

"In the Shanghai Gigafactory in China, Tesla produces cars for export in the first half of the quarter and for the local market in the second half. As publicly disclosed, we operate under extreme supply chain constraints for certain 'standard' automotive chips. Japan's Renesas Electronics and Germany's Robert Bosch are by far the biggest constraints on car manufacturing."

Some analysts said that it is understandable that traditional car companies including Ford and Volkswagen "blamed" suppliers when the entire industry was short of chips, but today was the first time that Musk pointed out the specific names of suppliers and pointed out that the company still faced "extreme supply chain constraints."

Wall Street Journal noted that Ford Motor listed the fire at Renesas Electronics' factory in northern Tokyo as a major risk to its production plan earlier this year, and Volkswagen confirmed in January that it had held talks with major suppliers such as Bosch about possible claims related to semiconductor shortages. The CEO of Stellantis, formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and French automaker Peugeot Citroen, also said that he did not rule out the possibility of receiving claims from suppliers due to parts problems. Musk's naming of suppliers may imply that he will demand claims in the future.

Electrek, a new energy vehicle industry information website that has always been optimistic about Tesla, pointed out that Germany's Bosch is a major automotive supplier of electronic products, and Renesas Electronics is a semiconductor and microcontroller manufacturer. Tesla once said that it has solved the global chip supply shortage problem by quickly switching to new microcontrollers and developing chip manufacturing firmware for new suppliers since the first quarter.

The website said that Musk has been complaining about the chip shortage for the past few months, and today he has even escalated to directly naming specific suppliers, which may indicate that many people need to lower their expectations for Tesla's growth this year. If Tesla wants to achieve its goal of delivering 1 million vehicles in 2021, it needs to significantly increase production in the second half of the year, which is not going to happen at the moment, so more growth opportunities will appear next year.

At the same time that Tesla complained about the chip shortage caused by suppliers, Ford Motor said that due to the chip shortage of the roof appearance of the Bronco SUV and the Mustang Mach-E electric crossover, the delivery of these two highly anticipated new models was delayed. The chip shortage will cause the Mach-E to be delayed by at least six weeks. The company confirmed that "the semiconductor shortage continues to affect global automakers and other industries."

Consulting firm AlixPartners predicted in May that due to chip shortages, automakers such as Ford will significantly reduce production this year, which is estimated to cause the global automotive industry to lose $110 billion in revenue, a significant increase of 81.5% from the $60.6 billion loss expected at the beginning of the year. The chip shortage is expected to result in a loss of 3.9 million vehicles this year, higher than the 2.2 million vehicles estimated in January.

Due to the chip shortage, Ford and General Motors are expected to see a significant reduction in profits this year. Ford has said that its profits in 2021 will be reduced by about $2.5 billion, and General Motors also estimates that the shortage of chips will reduce the turnover by $1.5 billion to $2 billion. The industry currently hopes to completely resolve the supply constraints next year so that automakers have enough semiconductor chips to produce the cars they want.

Tesla's stock price rose 1.7% in midday trading on Thursday, returning to its highest level in three and a half months since late April. Ford Motor Co. fell 0.3% from a one-week high.