Tesla CEO Elon Musk believes the global shortage of semiconductors will have a short-term impact on the auto industry as new factories are being built to produce them.
Elon Musk stated on September 24 during a joint session with Stellantis and Ferrari Chairman John Elkann at Italian Tech Week that with the construction of new semiconductor factories already under construction or in the planning stages, the global chip shortage should only have a short-term impact. When asked how long this issue will have an impact on the auto industry, he replied "a short term I think," according to Reuters.
The problem that has arisen, which struck and significantly delayed the auto industry in 2020-2021, will be resolved after new factories producing them are built. “There's a lot of chip fabrication plants that are being built,” Musk said. "I think we will have good capacity for providing chips by next year," he added.
In March, Intel announced that it will spend $20 billion to build two new chip factories, called fabs, in Chandler, Arizona. In May, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co said it will build a semiconductor facility in Arizona. Samsung also intends to build a new $17 billion semiconductor factory, likely in Texas.
In addition, the issue of nuclear power was also discussed. Musk and Elkann agreed that nuclear power plays an important role in meeting growing global energy needs. "I am surprised by a recent move away of some countries form nuclear energy, which is safe," Musk said.
Although the leaders avoided talking about competition between them during the dialogue, Musk thanked Elkann for the support Tesla received between 2017 and 2019 from Comau, the robotic unit of Fiat Chrysler, now part of Stellantis. This happened in one of the most painful periods for Tesla, which was associated with the launch of the production of Model 3. "John helped me a lot in that period," Musk said, adding Tesla had come close to bankruptcy "half a dozen times."
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
