Chip-Starved Automakers Shudder at Renesas Plant's 1-Month Halt
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Chip-starved automakers shudder at Renesas plant's 1-month halt:
TOKYO -- Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics said Sunday that production may take up to a month to resume at a fire-damaged main factory in Hitachinaka, northeast of Tokyo.
But considering the many processes in semiconductor fabrication, it may take over three months for supply chains [to] return to normal.
Renesas' fire could not come at a worse time for the auto industry. Already battered by a global shortage of semiconductors, the industry had been scrambling to respond to the Texas winter storm that knocked out production at NXP Semiconductors and Infineon Technologies, the world's No. 1 and No. 3 players in automotive chips.
Renesas is No. 2. It controls around a 20% global share in microcontrollers and supplies the likes of Toyota Motor and Nissan Motor.
[...] CEO Hidetoshi Shibata told a news conference Sunday that Renesas will make efforts to resume production "within a month." But he acknowledged a "significant" impact the supply of the chips.
"I apologize for any inconvenience and troubles caused by this incident," Shibata said. "We will make every effort to minimize the impact, including looking at alternative production," he said.
But "it is difficult to say whether it is possible to substitute production at other factories," Shibata said.
[...] Shibata said that he fears the fire will have a big impact on chip supply. Roughly 50 people from automakers and clients have come to help out, replacing the damaged machinery, he said.
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