Taiwan Speeds Up Semiconductors Production To US
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Biden's Administration urged the private sector for more investment to produce more semiconductors in the United States and to re-shore other critical supply chains.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Tuesday that addressing the shortage in the semiconductors and relocation of the supply chains remained Administration's top priority.
We’re working hard to see if we can get the Taiwanese and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, which is a big company there, to, you know, prioritize the needs of our auto companies since there’s so many American jobs on the line, Ms Raimondo said in response to a question from a General Motors Co executive.
As I said, there’s not a day goes by that we don’t push on that, she said, adding the medium- and long-term solution would be simply making more chips in America.
TSMC CEO C.C. Mr. Wei said last month the company had worked with its customers since January to reallocate more capacity to support the auto industry, but the shortage had worsened due to a snowstorm in Texas and a fab manufacturing disruption in Japan.
Wei expected the chip shortage for its auto clients to be greatly reduced from the next quarter.
The Commerce Department is planning a high-level meeting with automakers set to take place next week on the chip shortage issue, said officials briefed on the matter. A Commerce Department spokesman declined to comment.
United Auto Workers Legislative Director Josh Nassar said in written testimony for a U.S. House hearing on Wednesday that the chips shortage has resulted in the layoffs of “tens of thousands of workers. Clearly, we need to bolster domestic production of automotive-quality semiconductors.”
Last week, Ford Motor Co warned the chips shortage may slash second-quarter production by half, cost it about $2.5 billion and about 1.1 million units of lost production in 2021.
One of the biggest car maker fears shortages
Stellantis, the world’s fourth largest carmaker, said on Wednesday it expects the global shortage of semiconductors to affect production this quarter more heavily than in the first three months of the year.
The group, which was formed at the beginning of this year thorough the merger of Italian American Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA, said its first quarter revenues rose 14 per cent to US $44.5 billion on a pro-forma basis.
That compares with analyst expectations of 34.9 billion euros, according to a Reuters poll.
Stellantis said in a statement production losses due to the semiconductor shortages amounted to around 11 per cent of planned production in the first three months of this year, or around 190,000 units out of 1.567 million quarterly shipments on a pro-forma basis.