Explained: How chip shortage is impacting automakers, other industries

Everybody in the ecosystem is hoarding, or buying excess chips. Some are even buying four times their usual requirements

Time was when you turned on your car’s ignition, all that happened was that the mechanical system fired up your engine and made it run. 

Today, the moment you do so, your stereo system probably lights up, connects to the Bluetooth on your smartphone, and lets you make calls through an audio assistant or play music from your phone, which you can hear on the car’s speakers.

All these smart features in a car are powered by semiconductors, or chips, as they are commonly called.

“We probably still remember how cars used to have cassette players or CD players, and