By: AVA WOFFORD
Staff Writer
The Car industry is currently in peril due to the semiconductor shortage. Semiconductor chips are coin sized pieces of metal and silicon. As the name suggests they conduct electricity, because of this they are used in our everyday life and have become essential in our society. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world in 2020 the need for cars went down while the need for personal electronics such as phones and laptops went up causing a worldwide semiconductor crash since companies were unable to keep up with the high demands. Most cars nowadays need 50 to 100 semiconductors while personal electronics use 2 to 10, causing semiconductor companies to lean more towards these electronic companies. This has the effect of leaving car companies to stop production leaving millions of cars waiting for semiconductors to rot in parking lots. How does this affect you? Due to the car postponement people who are currently going car shopping are in a pickle and are forced to buy a used car. Because of the high demand for used cars the once ¨cheap-option¨ is now just as expensive if not more expensive than a brand new car. Professionals are saying that due to the rise in money when it comes to new cars the economy will suffer. We’ve been approaching an economic crash since we recovered from the Great Depression, but the pandemic has been the greatest resource yet. Professionals are saying this semiconductor crash might be the last step, throwing America into inflation and eventually causing a second Great Depression.