Ford's pain underscores uneven impact of two-year auto chip shortage
By Ben Klayman and Stephen Nellis
DETROIT/SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 3 (Reuters) -Ford Motor Co's F.N disappointing quarterly results underscored that disruptions caused by the global semiconductor shortage are still bedeviling automakers, but some are suffering more than others.
Ford said on Thursday it left billions of dollars on the table that were within its control and blamed a 100,000 vehicle shortfall in its fourth-quarter volume mostly on the inability to obtain enough chips.
"We're going to see in 2023, there is still going to be volatility around chips," Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said on Thursday. "I know there's been a lot of discussion about 'Well, the chip supply issue is over,' but on the larger, older nodes that are primarily the chips we use in the auto industry there is still capacity constraints."
"We're working to get access to as much as we can through the spot market and the broker market," he added. "It's hand-to- hand combat."
Ford and other automakers dialed back production after the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2021 and chipmakers responded by shifting shipments to the consumer electronics industry. The auto industry has been playing catch-up ever since, although some companies have talked about a slow improvement in supplies as the shortage enters its third year.
By the end of 2023, almost 18 million vehicles will have been removed from production plans since the chip shortage started, according to Auto Forecast Solutions.
"It's easing," Sam Fiorani, the firm's vice president of global vehicle forecasting, said of the shortage. "There are more chips out there and if you have proper access to them, your production will be fine."
General Motors Co GM.N Chief Executive Mary Barra last October said short-term disruptions would continue to occur but overall semiconductor supplies were improving due to deals with chipmakers, and a spokesman for the Detroit automaker said on Friday that had not changed.
German automaker Volkswagen AG VOWG_p.DE said on Jan. 10 it expected 2023 production to remain challenging because of ongoing chip shortages, but forecast a step-by-step improvement of supply over the course of the year.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O, which has been recognized for handling the chip shortage better than most automakers, said last October it was able to address some chip issues by rewriting its software to use different or fewer chips. The EV leader said then that it buys about 1,600 different chips from 43 suppliers.
DENSO SLASHES FORECAST
Ford is not alone in feeling the pain.
Japan's Denso Corp 6902.T, a leading supplier to Toyota Motor Corp 7203.T, on Friday slashed its annual profit forecast and warned the chip shortage could cause auto production cuts. Toyota in November cut its vehicle production projection for the current financial year through March due to the chip shortage.
The head of another auto supplier, Aptiv Plc APTV.N, which makes advanced driver assistance systems, vehicle computers and high-voltage cabling, said the impact of the chip shortage is not evenly felt.
"When you look at the semiconductor challenges ... it's really much more focused, rather than a general supply constraint, (it's) specific suppliers who are causing constraints," Aptiv CEO Kevin Clark said on Thursday. "We expect that to continue into 2023."
Kurt Sievers, CEO of Dutch automotive chip giant NXP Semiconductors NXPI.O, said this week there were three kinds of automotive chips whose supplies will stay tight through 2023. NXP still sees shortages of 180-nanometer high voltage micro-controllers used in electric vehicles, some variants of 90-nanometer chips and 55-nanometer chips with embedded high-reliability memory.
"Those are still tight, which means we are still hindering car companies from building the cars they want to build," Sievers told Reuters. "But this whole thing about millions of cars cannot be built, that will be behind us, at least as it concerns NXP, by the end of this year."
Asked why Ford seemed to be hit more than other automakers, a company spokesman said the issues did not hit all companies to the same degree at the same time, and acknowledged others moved faster after COVID-19 hit to secure chips.
Ford executives said on Thursday they had opportunities to further cut supply-chain costs. Lawler said higher shipping costs on chips and the manufacturing disruptions Ford caused its suppliers were part of $1 billion in premiums paid by the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker last year.
"While these issues are by no means restricted to Ford, it does appear to have been disproportionately impacted in 4Q," J.P. Morgan analyst Ryan Brinkman said in a research note. "We expect these issues to continue into 2023, but abate as the year progresses."
BREAKINGVIEWS-America isn’t quitting gas guzzlers yetnL8N34J454
UPDATE 5-Ford posts lower profit, issues downbeat outlook; shares dropnL1N34I2Q5
Aptiv says no EV production surge yet after price cutsnL4N34I2PL
ANALYSIS-GM goes slow on EVs as rivals fight a price warnL1N34G1OB
PREVIEW-GM, Ford must convince investors they can profit as prices fallnL1N3491ZE
Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco
Additional reporting by Joseph White in Detroit, Jane Lanhee Lee and Hyun Joo Jin in San Francisco, Victoria Waldersee in Berlin and Daniel Leussink in Tokyo
Editing by Matthew Lewis
متعلقہ اثاثے
تازہ ترين خبريں
دستبرداری: XM Group کے ادارے ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت تک صرف عملدرآمد کی خدمت اور رسائی مہیا کرتے ہیں، کسی شخص کو ویب سائٹ پر یا اس کے ذریعے دستیاب کانٹینٹ کو دیکھنے اور/یا استعمال کرنے کی اجازت دیتا ہے، اس پر تبدیل یا توسیع کا ارادہ نہیں ہے ، اور نہ ہی یہ تبدیل ہوتا ہے یا اس پر وسعت کریں۔ اس طرح کی رسائی اور استعمال ہمیشہ مشروط ہوتا ہے: (i) شرائط و ضوابط؛ (ii) خطرہ انتباہات؛ اور (iii) مکمل دستبرداری۔ لہذا اس طرح کے مواد کو عام معلومات سے زیادہ کے طور پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے۔ خاص طور پر، براہ کرم آگاہ رہیں کہ ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت کے مندرجات نہ تو کوئی درخواست ہے، اور نہ ہی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں کوئی لین دین داخل کرنے کی پیش کش ہے۔ کسی بھی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں تجارت میں آپ کے سرمائے کے لئے ایک خاص سطح کا خطرہ ہوتا ہے۔
ہماری آن لائن تجارتی سہولت پر شائع ہونے والے تمام مٹیریل کا مقصد صرف تعلیمی/معلوماتی مقاصد کے لئے ہے، اور اس میں شامل نہیں ہے — اور نہ ہی اسے فنانشل، سرمایہ کاری ٹیکس یا تجارتی مشورے اور سفارشات؛ یا ہماری تجارتی قیمتوں کا ریکارڈ؛ یا کسی بھی فنانشل انسٹرومنٹ میں لین دین کی پیشکش؛ یا اسکے لئے مانگ؛ یا غیر متنازعہ مالی تشہیرات پر مشتمل سمجھا جانا چاہئے۔
کوئی تھرڈ پارٹی کانٹینٹ، نیز XM کے ذریعہ تیار کردہ کانٹینٹ، جیسے: راۓ، خبریں، تحقیق، تجزیہ، قیمتیں اور دیگر معلومات یا اس ویب سائٹ پر مشتمل تھرڈ پارٹی کے سائٹس کے لنکس کو "جیسے ہے" کی بنیاد پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے، عام مارکیٹ کی تفسیر کے طور پر، اور سرمایہ کاری کے مشورے کو تشکیل نہ دیں۔ اس حد تک کہ کسی بھی کانٹینٹ کو سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیقات کے طور پر سمجھا جاتا ہے، آپ کو نوٹ کرنا اور قبول کرنا ہوگا کہ یہ کانٹینٹ سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیق کی آزادی کو فروغ دینے کے لئے ڈیزائن کردہ قانونی تقاضوں کے مطابق نہیں ہے اور تیار نہیں کیا گیا ہے، اسی طرح، اس پر غور کیا جائے گا بطور متعلقہ قوانین اور ضوابط کے تحت مارکیٹنگ مواصلات۔ براہ کرم یقینی بنائیں کہ آپ غیر آزاد سرمایہ کاری سے متعلق ہماری اطلاع کو پڑھ اور سمجھ چکے ہیں۔ مذکورہ بالا معلومات کے بارے میں تحقیق اور رسک وارننگ ، جس تک رسائی یہاں حاصل کی جا سکتی ہے۔
