Auto manufacturers largely led the move to the Just In Time Delivery concept that is now embraced by almost all large manufacturing operations. Although they understand that supply chain disruptions make them vulnerable, the benefits are too great to pass up. The car and truck plants have long since repurposed or removed the huge warehouses that used to hold a full production run quantity of parts, so there is no easy or quick way to revert back to the ways of old.
I don't see government having a role here unless as you say they decide that some semiconductor boards are strategically important and are to be controlled and stockpiled as such. But which boards? Could government keep up to changing demand as technologies advance? More importantly, should they? There would be howls of protest from many quarters if government intervened with industry on something like this.
You can deride the automakers' relentless search for savings and cost reductions all you want, but your bucks buy a lot more truck than they used to. Detroit isn't the only one benefiting here.
You seem to have created a rebuttal to something I never advocated. Where did you get the idea that I was advocating for dismantling of "Just in Time Delivery". There is world of difference between that and a nation maintaining the ability to manufacture its own computer chips, which are absolutely critical to every aspect of a modern economy, and it's a lot more than just new trucks.
As for "your bucks buying a lot more truck than they used to" that's debatable. Newer trucks have a lot of new tech and bells and whistles, but in my opinion from the perspective of overall purchase cost, longevity, reliability, robustness, ease and cost of repair, they are inferior to some older trucks. That is especially true if they are going to be used for work back in the bush, where robustness, reliability and ease of bush repair is everything. You used to be able to get decades out of a well-built truck, now they often seem to just make it through the warranty period before they start throwing lots of codes and needing expensive work. Vehicles are more and more being designed to make them very expensive to repair. For example one of my vehicles has the T-stat built into a component unit and cannot be replaced for a few dollars if it fails. You have to buy the complete proprietary component to get the T-stat built into it, and it is hundreds of dollars.
I have seen some out of warranty vehicles, where you are lucky if you can go three weeks without them throwing codes for something. The dealerships love that of course, as they make a lot of money off of computerized diagnosis, resets, $180.00 an hour repair charges and expensive integrated proprietary parts designed not to be serviced or repaired. Then there is the aggravation factor of all that code throwing and PITA which helps to sell you a new vehicle.
Perhaps it is unfair to single out the vehicle industry for creating shorter life and increasingly complex and disposable components. More and more manufacturing seems to be going that way. If you buy some high-end items, it is cheaper for the manufactures to just replace it, if it is in warranty. If it is out of warranty, its disposable, no parts available, no matter how many thousands of dollars you paid for it a few years back. At least the vehicle industry has not gone that far.
By the way, the lack of chips is not just effecting the delivery of new vehicles, I am aware of a guy with an expensive bricked truck that has been sitting in his driveway for a couple of months waiting for a replacement chip.
