Chip plant closure pressures Japanese car output

Japanese car production is expected to come under more pressure over the coming months after a fire closed an automotive chip production line operated by Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics.

A fire hit a 300mm wafer line on 19 March at Renesas' semiconductor chip manufacturing plant in Ibaraki prefecture's Hitachinaka, closing the production line for a month. About two thirds of the advanced 300mm wafer line is designated for automotives. The plant's 200mm wafer line is operating normally.

Renesas aims to resume the 300mm wafer line production within a month. But shipments of the chips could be affected as the company reported difficulty in immediately producing replacement products because of a recent increase in demand for semiconductors.

The output halt at Renesas is dealing a further blow to Japanese carmakers at a time when they are already struggling with a global shortage of semiconductor chips. Domestic car output had declined for a third straight month in January following an earlier recovery from lows of April-June 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Japan's car output recovery has also restored steel demand from a pandemic-driven manufacturing slowdown. Crude steel production remained down on the year but continued to recover on the month until January because of firm demand from carmakers.

By Rieko Suda