GM raises forecast, says chip shortage not as bad as feared

General Motors says efforts to manage the global computer chip shortage have worked better than expected, so it's financial results will improve over previous forecasts.

The company says in a statement Thursday that it has made engineering changes, prioritised semiconductor use and pulled some potential deliveries into the second quarter. So now the first-half earnings will be significantly better than forecasts it issued earlier in the year.

GM had predicted a first-half pretax profit of around $5.5 billion when it released first-quarter earnings in May. The company also said it's optimistic about the full year, but gave no further details.

In the first quarter the company turned a $2.98 billion net profit as strong US consumer demand and higher prices offset production cuts brought on by the chip shortage.

GM previously forecast a full-year pretax profit of $10 billion to $11 billion and said earnings would be at the high end of the range. Full-year net income is expected to be between $6.8 billion and $7.6 billion.