BMW CEO expects chip shortage to continue till 2023

A shortage of semiconductors will remain an issue for the auto industry into 2023, BMW’s CEO Oliver Zipse said in an interview with Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ) published on Monday.

“We are still in the height of the chip shortage,” Zipse said. “I expect us to start seeing improvements at the latest next year, but we will still have to deal with a fundamental shortage in 2023.”

The automaker said during its annual press briefing in mid-March that the chip shortage will continue to exist throughout 2022.

The chip shortage, which has hit automakers worldwide, emerges from a confluence of factors as automakers, which closed plants for two months during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, rivalry against the sprawling consumer electronics industry for chip supplies. A factory fire suffered by Japanese chipmaker Renesas this year is also cited as a reason behind the chip shortage.