Live data from Hacker News

Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

bbc.com

51–60 of 720 posts

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#51

As a chip supplier, I'd be feeling a lot of pressure right now. In the short term you can squeeze and the tail can wag the dog for a bit. But longer term this opens the door wide open for new competitors in the market and / or vertical integration.

> But longer term this opens the door wide open for new competitors in the market and / or vertical integration.

Not really. Chip fabrication requires enormous upstart cost - IIRC, TSMC plans with something like 10-20 billion $ - and a lot of time, to the tune of three years at least (https://pr.tsmc.com/english/news/2033). There are not many companies in the world who have that amount of cash lying around, and even the ones who do like Apple still resort to using TSMC.

Not to mention it's not just the machines from ASML and a host of other vendors plus the cost of building factory-sized ultra clean rooms, but you also need the expert staff trained to operate the entire setup and a lot of fine tuning of parameters which are closely guarded secrets...

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#52
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the supply of goods goes down, it pushes prices up.

But inflation has to do with the supply of money, not the supply of goods, right? Genuine question

The problem is when those things affect each other. Otherwise we wouldn't care.

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#53
post #31

As a chip supplier, I'd be feeling a lot of pressure right now. In the short term you can squeeze and the tail can wag the dog for a bit. But longer term this opens the door wide open for new competitors in the market and / or vertical integration.

I'm sure someone's trying to spin up a fab right now, but that's inherently not a quick process.

Or cheap. Trying to game a short-term downtick in supply by spending 100 Bn USD only to come out the other side as not competitive when you're up-to-speed and your competitors have an abundance of supply and can undercut you by 20%.

It's not a winning strategy.

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#55

Toyota was one of the few (only?) companies to keep a large stockpile of chips on hand to continue production in case of a supply interruption. They kept something like two years worth on hand. I guess 18 months of doing the extremely heavy lifting for the whole industry has taken its toll and now they're in the same boat.

Most auto companies don't take delivery of chips except for managing production of a few key modules like engine controllers. Most of the chips in your car are in components made by suppliers with circuit boards often made by a second tier supplier. Combine that with many chips having no alternate and I don't see how Toyota could really stay exempt from this problem. OTOH not every chip maker is having trouble keeping up.

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#56

Good! Toyota has been sabotaging clean cars because they can't compete [1][2]. Most well known car brands have great electric cars now, but Toyota and their oil lobby buddies are trying to halt the progress. The decline of Toyota sales is good news for the world. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/climate/toyota-electric-h... [2] https://insideevs.com/features/524481/toyota-hybrid-pioneer-...

Please write back when Tesla learns how to correctly apply paint to a car or fit body panels, or well, pretty much everything else that makes an actual car a car instead of a disposable gadget.

Ah yes, the most important function of a car, the paint...

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#58

Good! Toyota has been sabotaging clean cars because they can't compete [1][2]. Most well known car brands have great electric cars now, but Toyota and their oil lobby buddies are trying to halt the progress. The decline of Toyota sales is good news for the world. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/climate/toyota-electric-h... [2] https://insideevs.com/features/524481/toyota-hybrid-pioneer-...

Please write back when Tesla learns how to correctly apply paint to a car or fit body panels, or well, pretty much everything else that makes an actual car a car instead of a disposable gadget.

The concerns you express aren't noticable or bothersome except to a small percentage of enthusiasts. Teslas are mechanically far more reliable and require less maintenance that other cars.

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#59
post #18
post #2

This so-called “transitory inflation” is really starting to seem like it will parlay into full blown inflation.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/18/opinion/infla... "In July, some of these sectors (used cars in particular) experienced a big deceleration in inflation, bolstering the argument" https://news.yahoo.com/us-used-car-bubble-burst-141009925.ht... "The price index for used vehicles rose 0.2% in July, after having risen at least 7.3% in each of the previous three months. The category was one of the few, along…

Used cars have a natural price cap, and my understanding is that it has been reached. They are too close to the price of a new car to go any higher.

Re: Chip shortage: Toyota to cut global production by 40%

#60

Good! Toyota has been sabotaging clean cars because they can't compete [1][2]. Most well known car brands have great electric cars now, but Toyota and their oil lobby buddies are trying to halt the progress. The decline of Toyota sales is good news for the world. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/climate/toyota-electric-h... [2] https://insideevs.com/features/524481/toyota-hybrid-pioneer-...

Toyota is not "sabotaging clean cars", only trying to delay regulations.

So not sabotaging, only obstructing. I'm so pissed at all the auto-makers (with the exception of Tesla). The writing has been on the wall for at least a decade in large neon letters, but they all seem taken by surprise that they suddenly have to produce electric cars.
Post reply on HN