SAN FRANCISCO: On the same day that Ford Motor Co said it would be able to produce only half as many cars as planned due to a global chip shortage Apple Inc announced blowout quarterly earnings as smartphone and computer sales soared, with the chip shortage having only a small impact on its business.The contrasting results show how major players in the electronics industry, accustomed to the long time horizons of chip production, have mostly avoided major disruptions from the chip shortage. Samsung Electronics also announced strong earnings and said it expected to see a hit to smartphone sales in the current quarter due to the chip shortage. But profits at its chip division are expected to be robust.In cases where advanced chip production technology faces bottlenecks, semiconductor firms are finding some ways to mitigate them. "We're a bigger part of our suppliers' businesses, and we're looking for opportunities to help our partners get the capacity that we need in place," Su told Reuters in an interview. "We started that last year, and we're going to continue."

Source: Economic Times April 30, 2021 02:37 UTC