Musk says panic-buying of chips is like the rush on toilet paper

 

companies ordering more microcontrollers than they need; much like consumers hoarded toilet paper in the early days of the pandemic.

“Our biggest challenge is supply chain; especially microcontroller chips. Never seen anything like it,” the chief executive officer tweeted Wednesday.

“Fear of running out is causing every company to overorder – like the toilet paper shortage, but at epic scale.”

Last month, the consultant AlixPartners estimated automakers will lose about $110 billion of sales this year to the dearth of semiconductors; almost double an earlier projection.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said last month it plans to increase production of microcontroller units by 60% this year to help relieve supply-strained carmakers.