Japan automakers鈥 chip woes worsen
Print Edition
Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other Japanese automakers scrambled yesterday to assess the production impact of a fire at a Renesas Electronics automotive chip plant that could aggravate a global semiconductor shortage.
鈥淲e are gathering information and trying to see if this will affect us or not,鈥 a Honda spokesman said.
The impact could spread beyond Japan to other auto companies in Europe and the United States because Renesas has around a 30 percent global share of microcontroller unit chips used in cars.
Renesas said it will take at least a month to restart production on a 300-millimeter wafer line at its Naka plant in northeast Japan after an electrical fault caused machinery to catch fire on Friday and poured smoke into the sensitive clean room.
Two-thirds of production at the affected line is automotive chips. The company also has a 200mm wafer line at the Naka plant, which has not been affected.
Concerns on the impact of the fire on production sent auto shares sliding, with the big three, Toyota, Honda and Nissan, closing down more than 3.3 percent. Renesas tumbled as much as 5.5 percent and ended 4.9 percent lower. The benchmark Topix index shed nearly 1 percent.
鈥淚t will probably take more than a month to return to normal supply. Given that, even Toyota will face very unstable production in April and May,鈥 said Seiji Sugiura, senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute. 鈥淚 think Honda, Nissan and other makers will also be facing a difficult situation.鈥
Semiconductors are used extensively in cars, including to monitor engine performance, manage steering or automatic windows, in sensors used in parking and in entertainment systems.
Nissan and Honda had already been forced to scale back production plans because of the chip shortage resulting from burgeoning demand from consumer electronics makers and an unexpected rebound in car sales from a slump during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.
鈥淚t could take three months or even half a year for a full recovery,鈥 said Akira Minamikawa, analyst at technology research company Omdia.
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