Semiconductor shortage: the West's dependence on Asia in question
Due to the moidial shortage of semiconductors, the American automaker Ford has reduced production of its F-150 pickup.
AP - Carlos Osorio
Text by: RFI Follow
6 min
The current production of electronic chips in the world does not meet all the demands.
These components, essential to the automotive industry, are also widely used in electronics, smartphones and computers, the demand for which is exploding with the pandemic which has accelerated the rise of teleworking and home entertainment.
While in the United States, the Biden administration is mobilizing, Germany has asked for help from Taiwan.
A shortage that once again supports where it hurts: the industrial dependence of the West on Asia.
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With the spectacular rebound in automotive production in recent months, semiconductor manufacturers, mainly located in Asia, are struggling all the more to meet global demand.
As a result, the major world manufacturers are in a critical situation.
Ford has announced a drastic reduction in the production of the star of its utility vehicles, the F-150 pickup.
General Motors will suspend production at three plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
In China, some factories have decided to close for up to two weeks.
In France, the factories of Stellantis (ex-Peugeot-Citroën) remained closed last Saturday in Rennes and Sochaux.
Renault has also suspended part of its production this week in Sandouville in Seine-Maritime, Tangier in Morocco and Pitesti in Romania.
In Germany, Volkswagen shut down production lines in Wolfsburg and Emden in January.
►
See also: The shortage of electronic chips affects the production of the automotive giant General Motors
Biden promises to intervene quickly
In the main affected countries, the fight is on the move.
The US government plans to act quickly to address this shortage.
President Joe Biden has vowed to sign
an executive order
"
in the coming weeks
" ordering a "
comprehensive review of supply chains for essential goods
."
“
The study will focus on identifying actions we could take immediately, whether it's improving the physical production of these goods in the United States, or working with partners, to instead of a coordinated response to the weaknesses and bottlenecks [in supply chains, editor's note] that affect American workers
, ”detailed Jen Psaki, White House spokesperson.
Germany asks for help from Taiwan
Finding a solution to this shortage is "
of major politico-industrial importance
" so as not to endanger the economic recovery after the pandemic, said German Minister of the Economy Peter Altmaier (CDU).
An absolute emergency for Germany, where the automotive industry is one of the major pillars.
According to the German press, Peter Altmaier has therefore written to the Taiwanese government to try to resolve this supply issue with one of the world's leading chipmakers, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) group.
In response, Taiwan on Thursday pledged to try to increase semiconductor production.
“
Our government and microchip producers are thinking about how to help them,
” Taiwanese Minister of Economy Wang Mei-hua told reporters.
The TSMC group, for its part, affirmed that the automotive industry was "
one of its main priorities
", even though its factories were already running at full speed.
“
While our capacities are already fully utilized to meet the demand of all sectors, TSMC is redirecting its production to support the automotive industry
,” added the Taiwanese manufacturer.
Semiconductors against Covd-19 vaccines
The Taiwanese minister said she had discussions on Wednesday with representatives of the industries concerned, as well as the German representative in Taipei.
She also said she hoped Europe would help Taiwan get vaccines against the coronavirus.
So far, the island has been spared by Covid-19 by closing its borders, but it is struggling to provide itself with vaccines.
"
We need other countries to help Taiwan acquire vaccines, especially for our medical staff, which is our priority,
" said Minister Wang Mei-hua.
I told the German representative [this Wednesday] that we can help them procure microchips to solve the shortage problems faced by the auto industry and we hope they can help us get vaccines too.
"
No longer depend on Asia
The French automotive and electronics industries met Wednesday evening during a first videoconference with the Minister of the Economy to organize themselves in the face of this crisis.
In the short term, "
we are in a very fine job to activate all the possible levers between the automotive and electronics manufacturers,
" noted Bercy, citing the use of residual stocks or substitute solutions.
In the long term, this crisis is "
indicative of the action we have taken for several years for our French and European electronics industry
", underlined the ministry.
An “
acceleration strategy
” is being drafted to “
bring out structuring projects for the entire sector
”, within the framework of the fourth investment plan for the future.
It "will
mobilize significant support to bring about structuring projects for the entire sector
", according to Bercy.
“
We do not want, on electronic components, to continue to depend 70, 80, 85
% on supplies from China or the rest of Asia,
Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday, February 9, according to Ouest-France.
Because we have seen, thanks to this crisis, that it was dangerous to depend too much on foreign countries.
"
(With agencies)
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