RT News
The critical shortage of semiconductor chips is crippling Chinese automakers with orders backed up well over a year, leaving independent traders to cash in on the surge in demand.
Global giants such as General Motors, Ford and Nissan have been forced to pay way above normal prices to secure inventories of chips, but Chinese based carmakers are having to resort to “gray market” purchases; legal, but unauthorized by manufacturers, and in some cases up to 20 times more expensive.
China depends on imports for around 95% of the chips it needs to produce cars, with domestic experts predicting the country will need years to gain independent production.