The problem began during the pandemic and its associated shutdowns around the world. These caused automakers to temporarily idle plants due to public health concerns, leading some to cancel just-in-time orders for silicon chips. But as vaccines became available and production restarted, the silicon fabs that would have made chips for automakers had already switched that production capacity to other customers like Internet of Things device makers.

Source: Automotive chip shortages to continue throughout 2023, industry says

Now everyone is betting on when all this will be over.