I think some of the wafer fabs must have shut down for a spell due to COVID-19, not putting out any chips at all.(?)
No doubt, but typical wafer runs are 6-8 weeks, so it should be a temporary glitch. There were two fab fires, but the latest at a Reneasas fab in Naka - company says they’re rapidly outsourcing and getting replacement equipment in ahead of schedule. They make 20% of the microcontrollers and were shut down for 3 months by the earthqake in 2011 but that didn’t cause this kind of disruption. The impact just seems to be out of proportion.