Path out of chip shortage: New capacity, new thinking -- and patience 'Perfect storm' of events likely to cost auto industry billions in revenue and millions in production Print The Audi Q7 SUV has 38 microcontroller units, or MCUs, from seven different suppliers, a study from IHS Markit found. The automotive industry has been able to work through most supply disruptions, but the chip shortage that has brought persistent production stoppages since December -- with no end in sight -- has baffled even the most hardened veterans. "I have been in this industry for 31 years, and this is a situation I have never experienced before," said Peter Schiefer, president of the automotive division at Infineon Technologies, one of the largest automotive semiconductor makers, especially for power electronics.