Help resolve chip shortage for vehicles, Taiwan urges Malaysia
Malaysia supplies semiconductors to major carmakers, including Toyota Motor Corp and Ford Motor Co. (AP pic)
PETALING JAYA: Taiwan has sought Malaysia’s help to resolve the global shortage of semiconductors for vehicles.
Its economy minister, Wang Mei-hua, said Taiwan, as a major chip producer, had been “at the front and centre” of efforts to resolve the shortage, which has idled auto plants around the world.
Wang told Reuters that Taiwan alone could not solve the problem because the supply chain was so complex.
“The bottleneck, in fact, is in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, because for a while the factories were all shut down,” she said.
Malaysia had implemented various movement control orders that restricted movement of workers and opening of factories to combat the growing Covid-19 infections.
Wang said the problem was especially acute with auto chip packaging, with companies in Malaysia providing services not offered by Taiwanese firms.
“Now the focus is on Malaysia resuming production as soon as possible. I know that Malaysia has started to restore production capacity in early September. Now, production capacity has returned to about 80%.
“So, if their capacity can slowly come back, this problem can be slowly dealt with.”
Malaysia is home to factories serving semiconductor makers, including Europe’s STMicroelectronics and Infineon. It also supplies to major carmakers, including Toyota Motor Corp and Ford Motor Co.
Reuters said the country accounts for 13% of global chip packaging and testing, and 7% of the world’s semiconductor trade passes through Malaysia, with some value added at local factories and chips getting combined with other parts before final shipment.
Global demand for chips from Malaysia is still outstripping supply after the pandemic disrupted production.
It was reported that the White House had applied pressure on automakers, chip companies and others last month to provide information on the semiconductor crisis.
PETALING JAYA: Taiwan has sought Malaysia’s help to resolve the global shortage of semiconductors for vehicles.
Its economy minister, Wang Mei-hua, said Taiwan, as a major chip producer, had been “at the front and centre” of efforts to resolve the shortage, which has idled auto plants around the world.
Wang told Reuters that Taiwan alone could not solve the problem because the supply chain was so complex.
“The bottleneck, in fact, is in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, because for a while the factories were all shut down,” she said.
Malaysia had implemented various movement control orders that restricted movement of workers and opening of factories to combat the growing Covid-19 infections.
Wang said the problem was especially acute with auto chip packaging, with companies in Malaysia providing services not offered by Taiwanese firms.
“Now the focus is on Malaysia resuming production as soon as possible. I know that Malaysia has started to restore production capacity in early September. Now, production capacity has returned to about 80%.
“So, if their capacity can slowly come back, this problem can be slowly dealt with.”
Malaysia is home to factories serving semiconductor makers, including Europe’s STMicroelectronics and Infineon. It also supplies to major carmakers, including Toyota Motor Corp and Ford Motor Co.
Reuters said the country accounts for 13% of global chip packaging and testing, and 7% of the world’s semiconductor trade passes through Malaysia, with some value added at local factories and chips getting combined with other parts before final shipment.
Global demand for chips from Malaysia is still outstripping supply after the pandemic disrupted production.
It was reported that the White House had applied pressure on automakers, chip companies and others last month to provide information on the semiconductor crisis.
Wrong guy to talk to.
ReplyDeleteThe Malaysian Government is now well and truly a China Client State.
It's recent statements show it appears to be abandoning decades of positive neutral engagement with both East and West, and aligning closely to China' policies.
The Defence Minister needs to go to Beijing to get his instructions.