The ongoing chip shortage affects everything from graphics cards to cars, but a new report claims that stock levels will be lean for at least another year. According to Nikkei Asia, Foxconn executive Young Liu has indicated to investors that the chip shortage did not impact the company until last month, unlike with AMD, NVIDIA and their supplies.
Apparently, the size of Foxconn's customers minimised the effect of the shortage, which include huge brands like Apple, Google and Microsoft, among others. However, missing components has forced Foxconn to cut its deliveries by 10% on what they had hoped they would be. Worse still, Liu expects the chip shortage to last until the end of Q2 2022. If that is the case, then it may be next summer before games consoles and graphics cards start selling at MSRP through retail channels.
Liu added that the chip shortage has particularly affect 'home economy products' of late, albeit because of increased demand rather than additional supply constraints. By contrast, the shortage has had only a limited impact on orders that were locked in 'a long time ago'. In the meantime, Foxconn wants to increase its gross margin from 5.65% to 10% by building more electric cars. Liu states that Foxconn plans to unveil electric bus and e-car prototypes this year, before delivering the former in 2022. Additionally, Foxconn hopes to start producing up to 10,000 electric cars in Mexico or Wisconsin soon.