Chip Shortage

 

Chip Shortage

        Microchips are the lifeblood of today's modern technology, everything from your phone, to your car, and even an electric toothbrush have some sort of microchip within them. These micro chips help these devices function and operate in their day to day uses. The pandemic has sadly slowed the production of these chips, but even before we were inevitably going to be using more than we made. 

        A big reason for the loss of production was the COVID-19 pandemic, factories close and chips weren't being made for months. Many car companies have had trouble producing new cars due to lack of these chips that they need. This has caused not only new car prices to go up as the demand is too high for the supply, but has also caused the used car market to increase in price as people still need cars. This is effected companies like Nissan, Ford, and even General Motors. The problem doesn't seem like it's going to be resolved anytime soon. Don't be surprised if holiday shopping is harder and possibly more expensive than previous years.

        This whole ordeal came about because of our supply not meeting our rising demands as microchips become more and more ingrained in our lives. The production slowed due to bad planning and the COVID-19 pandemic slowing and closing factories. I don't really think we'll catch up to the demand for quite a few years. Hopefully chip manufactures can get a hold of the situation and create a stable plan for the future so chip shortages like this don't happen again.