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Elon Musk says chip shortage could be shorter as new semiconductor factories come online

There may be a chance that the ongoing semiconductor shortage won't last as long as feared.

September 24, 2021 10:45 AM

If you’ve been following the tech, gaming, or automotive industries over the past year and a half, then you’re likely at least somewhat familiar with the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage. As a result of the pandemic, a number of chip factories had to halt operations. This has caused production issues for a number of consumer products, from PlayStation 5s to the newest vehicles from Tesla. While it’s understood that these shortages may last very well into 2022, there may be a chance that we may be closer to the other side of the shortage than previously expected, at least according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Elon Musk was speaking at Italian Tech Week, where he spoke about the ongoing chip shortage, as we learned from Reuters. "There's a lot of chip fabrication plants that are being built," Musk said during his appearance, acknowledging that new factories coming online is a good step towards ending the shortage. "I think we will have good capacity for providing chips by next year," he continued.

The semiconductor chip shortage has caused a lot of production issues for the automotive industry, including Tesla. The Roadster had already seen a couple of delays, and was recently pushed back to 2023 as a direct result of the chip shortage. An internal leak also revealed that the Cybertruck’s release had been pushed back to late 2022. It’s unclear if any of those dates will be impacted if the shortage is cleared up earlier than expected.

If Elon Musk is right about the semiconductor shortage ending earlier than expected, it would mean Tesla can ramp up production on its upcoming vehicles. It could also mean that production of Xbox Series X and PS5 consoles could speed up. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see if that proves to be the case.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_

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