Demand for semiconductors, which are used in electric vehicles and car infotainment systems, has outpaced supply, causing a worldwide chip shortage. This put an additional strain on BlackBerry’s proprietary software, which is in 175 million cars on the road today, executive chair and CEO John Chen told analysts on a call.
Ford announced chip-related stoppages in production, too, as did Toyota, Honda and Subaru — all of which deploy BlackBerry’s QNX software. Because of the shortage, insight firm IHS Markit predicts the global automotive industry will lose US$60 billion in sales this year. BlackBerry’s software and services division brought in the lion’s share of revenues while its licensing division brought in US$50 million.
“As the patent sale is being negotiated right now, are unable to do other negotiating,” he said. “So the pipeline is basically frozen.”
Do they still advertise their employment opportunities as “rim jobs”?