Have you noticed lately that car dealers are charging prices well above the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP)? In fact, if you have been in the market for a new car, you may have been surprised to find that they are charging anywhere from as little as $1,000 to as much as $35,000 above MSRP. But why is this happening to consumers? The primary reason is that there is a reduction in new car inventory and car dealers are having to make up for their operating costs including payroll, property taxes, etc. with the inventory that they are receiving.

The diminished supply of new car inventory is due to a shortage of microprocessor chips. Each vehicle uses from 30 to over 100 microprocessor chips, depending on the technology included in the vehicle. If this is true, then why aren't we hearing about similar critical shortages in other industries that also use microprocessor chips such as computers, tablets, or smartphones? Are there other issues within the automotive industry that have contributed to the slow-down in manufacturing? And how is this affecting the future manufacturing of automobiles?

This topic is of interest to our group, and we are requesting to write our term project on how the semiconductor chip shortage has caused bottlenecks in the automotive industry.

QUESTION:

1. How is the shortage of microprocessor chips affecting other industries in our world today.

• Cell Phone Industry?
• Computer Industry?
• Tablet Industry?
• Video Game Industry?
• Data Centers?