The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden had asked for information deemed confidential about semiconductor makers’ inventories, lead times, clients, and suppliers.

Sounds like good information to resolve some of the most critical issues with the chip shortage. The semiconductor industry has such a long supply chain that it is very susceptible to interruptions. Maybe the U.S. government can help to untie some of the snags?

Anyway, this could be huge for the auto industry, given that they’ve been totally hobbled by the shortages. Then again, the auto industry would do much better if it didn’t have antiquated designs that require thousands of chips instead of consolidating into fewer chips like Tesla has done. I have my eye on a first automobile, so I hope it gets handled soon so the second hand market’s not so ridiculously hot.