Ford Motor Co., responding to a global semiconductor shortage that has crimped profits and production, will explore buying chips directly from GlobalFoundries Inc.

Delivery times for chips in October posted their smallest gain in about nine months, signaling that the shortages that have punished a broad swath of industries may finally be easing.

DETROIT — For the first time in eight months, the global shortage of computer chips won’t force General Motors to keep any North American factories closed.

Intel Corp.’s plans for a multibillion-dollar investment in a new U.S. semiconductor plant hang in part on Congress moving on a stalled plan to bolster the domestic chip industry, the company’s chief executive said.

Volvo Group said the chip shortages and supply chain snarls will continue to cap truck making, leaving the Swedish manufacturer with little choice but to turn away some customers.

President Joe Biden has tasked Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo with ensuring the United States will be the world leader in computer chips.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. has confirmed it is planning to build a computer chip factory in Japan.

After sounding an optimistic note in the first half of the year as soaring car prices padded their profits, auto executives have become more resigned to supply chain headaches after recent COVID-19 outbreaks in Malaysia hampered semiconductor production.

The cost of the intractable semiconductor shortage has ballooned by more than 90%, pushing the total hit to 2021 revenue for the world’s automakers to $210 billion.

The number of COVID-19 infections is surging in Malaysia, threatening to aggravate shortages of semiconductors and other components that have hammered automakers for months.