FORT WAYNE — Workers at the GM truck plant in Fort Wayne are feeling a bit anxious as the ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips continues.
The global chip shortage is stopping production at the plant next week, starting Monday.
While the disruption is not supposed to last beyond next week, there is concern among the workers.
"The delta virus, which is affecting some of those plants in Malaysia, which produce our semiconductors, so it's definitely going to affect us. And our people are really concerned — it's long-term, short-term, either one, it's going to affect us because obviously, when the truck division goes down it's serious," Rich LeTourneau, a bargaining chairman at the Fort Wayne plant, said.
The tiny semiconductor chips allow computers, smartphones and other electrical devices to function in vehicles.
During the pandemic, there has been an increased demand for personal electronics such as cellphones and laptops that the chips are used in. And that's one of the big reasons why there hasn't been enough of them to keep up with the new vehicle production.
