The auto industry may be headed for another chip crunch. Last time, it was the pandemic that snarled supply chains and threw the chip market out of whack. This time, the AI boom is squeezing the supply of the basic semiconductors that modern cars rely on.

The CEO of Dutch semiconductor manufacturer Nexperia, Stefan Tilger, told Reuters that competitors had shifted supply for commodity semiconductors toward chips used in AI data center. And since a great deal of that production was once dedicated to mature chips (like those used in cars and other industrial equipment), a bottleneck is quickly brewing in the automotive supply chain. The auto industry is "suffering quite heavily," he said.

STMicroelectronics, a Swiss semiconductor manufacturer, is seeing the same problem, according to comments reported by the outlet. CEO Jean-Marc Chery warns that chip foundries and assembly plants are increasingly "disengaging" from traditional mainstream automotive and industrial applications. Tilger says that another emerging area eating into the supply chain is the new breed of robotics beginning to hit the market.

Both company leaders are stressing that the upcoming shortage isn't because big GPU companies like Nvidia are eating up every last chip known to man. The squeeze is happening even further upstream in the supply chain.

And the auto industry is already feeling the impact. German automotive supplier Aumovio, which makes sensors, cameras, and other in-vehicle electronics for customers like BYD, BMW, and Ford, warned on a recent earnings call that its chip costs are rising and will "explode" next year.

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