Page 12 - mayjune_042722.indd

TAP TIMES -12- MAY-JUNE 2022

In the time of COVID (from 10)

CNBC added, “And there isn’t really a clear
end to this in sight.”

Car sales fall, then rise
In June 2021, Reuters reported car sales
collapsed with the beginning of the pan-
demic. As a result, car makers who man
ufacture cars on a “just-in-time” basis, cut
back their orders for semiconductors.

As the quanrantine continued, Reuters
reported, chip orders grew and car sales
grew by as much as 90 prcent from April Wide aisles and light traffic were the earmarks of SEMICON West
2020 to April 2021. for its first December meeting last year. (TAP TIMES)
Revenue booster
The chip shortage affected many indus- The pandemic created a boon for online
tries, not only automobiles. Japanese giant sellers such as Amazon.com. It also boost-
Sony, for exampe, is struggling to make ed the revenue of companies that make the
PlayStation 5 consoles. It has internally equipment to make semiconductors, such
lowered its production forecast for the cur- as Applied Materials. For example, last
rent financial year, according to a report in next page
Bloomberg.

PlayStation 5 cutback
While the company was ex-
pecting to assemble 16 million
units between April 2021 and
March 2022, that figure is re-
portedly now at around 15 mil-
lion, according to Bloomberg.

Sony reported at times since
the pandemic that it was also
halting production of some of
its high-end cameras due to
a lack of chips. Part of the
shortage, however, was also
due to a fire a one of the com-
pany’s key suppliers.

Due to the overall shortage,
however, there apparently
were no other suppliers able to
step in to supply the needed
parts.