Toyota reported nearly a 6 per cent drop last quarter with profits totalling 791.7bn yen (£5.1bn), down from 838.7bn yen (£5.4bn) the previous year. Honda fared even worse, with profits dropping by a sizable 32 per cent to just 192.9bn yen (£1.1bn), down from 284bn yen (£1.8bn) the year before.
Both firms anticipate that the chip shortage will continue to affect them over the next financial year.
In June, an executive at chipmaker Intel said that the global semiconductor shortage could take many years to resolve as global supply chains continued to struggle under the “explosive growth in semiconductors” required for much of the world’s population to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic.
While Intel's plans to expand its US chip manufacturing operations, with a $20bn investment towards two new factories in Arizona, could help rebalance the semiconductor supply chain, facilities such as this often take years to construct before they can start commercial production...