Renault and Stellantis said they would halt production of cars in a number of factories, in the latest fallout from the chip shortage.

Global automakers have been hit by a shortage of chips used to manage engines and driver assistance systems, which mainly come from Asia and especially Taiwan.

The Corona crisis has raised the demand for chips used in electronics such as laptops and phones, and manufacturers are finding it difficult to keep pace, while supplies from China have also been affected by US sanctions imposed by the administration of former President Donald Trump.

A spokeswoman for French Renault said that the company will stop production at a site in France and two in Morocco and Romania for several days next week, without going into details about the possible impact on production.

Also affected are the automaker Stellants, which resulted in the merger of the French "PSA" and "Fiat Chrysler" of Italy.

A spokeswoman said that the deficit caused production to stop at its plant in Eisenach, Germany, where Opel cars are manufactured, and its plant in Zaragoza, Spain, which produces cars from the Citroen and Opel brands, was also affected.

Stilantis was also affected by the chip crisis (Reuters)

The French newspaper Le Parisien said that General Motors had decided to close 3 of its factories in the United States, Canada and Mexico next week, and cut production at one of its factories in South Korea.

German Volkswagen and US Ford announced a temporary cut in production, and Toyoya halted partial production.

In mid-January, Honda announced the closure of its factory in Britain and the reduction of its production in North America.

According to Le Parisien, car companies are competing with smartphone manufacturers, especially 5G phones, and manufacturers of computers and video games, for market share.

Slides versus inoculum

Trump's decision last December to place the International Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation on the US blacklist of Chinese companies has led customers to search for alternatives and deepen the global chip supply crisis.

In order to deal with the potential shortage, some companies raised the demand ratio to create a large inventory.

Observers expect that the current situation will continue for a long time. The company "IHS Markit" specialized in market research at the end of December of last year published a report in which it ruled out achieving a balance between supply and demand before the second half of this year.

In Taiwan - one of the most important electronic chip-producing countries in the world - the economy minister said last week that "our government and chip producers are thinking about how to provide assistance" to car manufacturers, but that will not be free - as Le Parisien says - as Taiwan asks Europe in return for On the "Covid-19" vaccines.