[Goose]

Ironically enough, the specific sorts of chips required to get the US automotive industry rolling again are made very old, legacy nodes.  The issue is that the older node technology fab capacity has maxed out, and while it's possible to qualify newer tools to fab older designs, the financials don't work out since newer chips provide way more margin than older chips.  Basically, there's no financial incentive for a fab to build older chips.  We can surmise that automotive chip vendors are either unable to or unwilling to make these contracts happen.  (Secondarily, the lifespan of these contracts might be too short-lived, and fabs like to sign contracts that they can count on to be renewed.)

No Kidding! One very important chip family is the ADS-1015. The vendors expect new stock to arrive 11/2/2022, but these are all already sold. This is a TI ADC chip that is used EVERYWHERE in the auto industry. As far as "obsolete" chips that are also ubiquitous, consider the FDC6301N, a dual FET that is used as an output stage in many, many products. It is a Fairchild/ONsemi product, showing it's age. Mouser is quoting 5/8/2023. Yes, that is a year from now. That's the good news. That date keeps slipping day for day. These FETS cost $0.51 in single quantities and $0.16 in quantities of 1000. One can see why this very important part isn't at the top of the list because it is so cheap. Yet many products can be completed 99.999% with more "complex" chips, but won't work (and can't be shipped) because their outputs require 16 cent chips one can't get!

[Goose]

Ironically enough, the specific sorts of chips required to get the US automotive industry rolling again are made very old, legacy nodes.  The issue is that the older node technology fab capacity has maxed out, and while it's possible to qualify newer tools to fab older designs, the financials don't work out since newer chips provide way more margin than older chips.  Basically, there's no financial incentive for a fab to build older chips.  We can surmise that automotive chip vendors are either unable to or unwilling to make these contracts happen.  (Secondarily, the lifespan of these contracts might be too short-lived, and fabs like to sign contracts that they can count on to be renewed.)

No Kidding! One very important chip family is the ADS-1015. The vendors expect new stock to arrive 11/2/2022, but these are all already sold. This is a TI ADC chip that is used EVERYWHERE in the auto industry. As far as "obsolete" chips that are also ubiquitous, consider the FDC6301N, a dual FET that is used as an output stage in many, many products. It is a Fairchild/ONsemi product, showing it's age. Mouser is quoting 5/8/2023. Yes, that is a year from now. That's the good news. That date keeps slipping day for day. These FETS cost $0.51 in single quantities and $0.16 in quantities of 1000. One can see why this very important part isn't at the top of the list because it is so cheap. Yet many products can be completed 99.999% with more "complex" chips, but won't work (and can't be shipped) because their outputs require 16 cent chips one can't get!