Porsche CEO warns ‘very severe’ global chip shortage could affect operations for months

Porsche’s chief government warned on Monday that the German luxurious automaker’s each day operations could be affected over the approaching months by a “very serious” global semiconductor shortage.

“The semiconductor topic is a very serious one because the whole industry is affected because of the big demand of consumer electronics and the faster return of the automotive sector,” Oliver Blume, chief government of Porsche, instructed CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday.

“We could be affected every day, so we watch very deeply (over) the next days and months what we can do. We have to relax short term and look for measures long term.”

His feedback come after a sudden upsurge in global automobile gross sales late final yr coincided with a shortfall of important chip parts. The provide shortages introduced meeting traces of the chip-reliant automobile business to a standstill and halted the manufacturing of a whole lot of 1000’s of autos worldwide.

Demand for these chips, or semiconductors, has soared through the coronavirus pandemic as customers snapped up video games consoles, laptops and TVs throughout a interval of decreased mobility.

Now, many of those merchandise — together with sure Chromebook laptops and next-generation consoles just like the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 — are both bought out or topic to prolonged delivery instances.

The chip shortages have hit the automotive sector particularly exhausting, analysts say, due to the business’s “just-in-time” provide chain, which the automobile business has relied upon for a long time in a bid to protect capital.

When requested whether or not Porsche could be pressured to rethink this provide chain mannequin, Blume replied: “Yes. That is very important for the future to think about the supply chain.”

“We have to think about what storage do we need really for all these stocks. We have to be more flexible and we have to plan more deeply the immediate capacities.”

Shares of Porsche, listed on Germany’s Xetra Dax index, are up 15% year-to-date. The inventory worth is little modified during the last 12 months.

— CNBC’s Sam Shead contributed to this report.