Ford is limiting production at factories in North America due to a lack of chips

Stop us if you’ve heard of this before, but a North American automaker is about to temporarily reduce its production due to the ongoing one. It told a spokesman for Ford Reuters On Friday, the automaker would cut or stop production at eight of its factories across the United States, Mexico and Canada. The closure starts on February 7. The decision will, among other things, affect the Kansas City facility where Ford produces the F-150, one of the most popular and profitable vehicles.

This is not the first time Ford has, nor has it been the only carmaker affected by the situation. In September last year, General Motors temporarily shut down all but four of its North American factories amid component shortages. Earlier this year, the US Department of Commerce warned that semiconductor-related supply constraints would last at least. “We are not even close to being out of the woods,”[ads1]; department secretary Gina Raimondo said at the time.

Companies like Ford have taken action to solve the problem. In November, the company with GlobalFoundries will increase US semiconductor production, but the carmaker will probably not benefit from that scheme for a while. Meanwhile, Ford told Reuters it expects production volume to “improve significantly” in the second half of the year.