Insight - There is a good side to the chip shortage

In this aerial photo, a General Motors assembly plant is seen at top right while mid-sized pickup trucks and full-size vans currently produced at the plant are seen in a parking lot outside Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in Wentzville, Mo. As the U.S. economy awakens from its pandemic-induced slumber, a vital cog is in short supply: the computer chips that power our cars and other vehicles, and a vast number of other items we take for granted. Ford, GM and Stellantis have started building vehicles without some computers, putting them in storage with plans to retrofit them later. - AP

THE chip shortage is persisting and spreading. But there may be a good side to it after all.

Despite all the moaning and groaning around the lack of semiconductors, automakers globally have posted pretty stellar results even as they’ve had to idle facilities and halt some production.