Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) has contacted local semiconductor manufacturers to continue addressing a shortage of automotive chips, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Saturday.

“The semiconductor industry has worked hard to solve the chip shortage in the first half of this year and will continue to address the issue,” Wang said in a news release.

“Taiwanese manufacturers support the global automotive industry by dynamically adjusting and reallocating wafer production capacity,” she said.

Wang’s remarks came after three US senators last week in a letter to Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) asked for more help from Taiwan, saying the chip shortage has affected the US economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter, dated Wednesday last week, was sent by US senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, and US Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The chip shortage has caused production cuts and layoffs, and severely affected the economies of the senators’ states, which are heavily dependent on the auto industry, the report said.

The ministry said it is aware of the letter and that Taiwan’s semiconductor industry intends to cooperate fully with customers from around the world to deal with the chip shortage, driven by an increase in demand for consumer electronics and vehicles as the US and Europe reopen their economies.

“Take one major manufacturer as an example. Compared with the first half of last year, it has increased the production of microcontroller units [MCUs] for automotive chips by 30 percent during the first half of this year,” the ministry said, without naming the manufacturer.

“It is estimated that the manufacturer’s MCU production will increase 60 percent from last year, which would be about 30 percent above pre-pandemic levels,” it added.

While the automotive chip supply chain is long and complex, supply and demand should reach a balance in the fourth quarter of this year, the ministry said, citing the local semiconductor industry’s estimate.

Last month, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told investors that global supply constraints would likely gradually ease this quarter, but the overall chip shortage might extend into next year.

TSMC is the world’s biggest supplier of MCUs for vehicles, with a more than 60 percent share, according to tallies compiled by the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (資策會).

The ministry said the chip shortage shows no signs of abating as demand remains strong.

“To respond to the urgent needs of customers from all over the world, Taiwanese semiconductor companies have actively expanded their capacity to alleviate the supply shortage in the wake of growing demand in the next few years,” it said.


●Origin：Taiwan News
●Link：https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2021/08/23/2003763048