South Korea has joined the growing number of countries seeking Taiwan’s assistance to alleviate the global semiconductor chips shortage.
A South Korean delegation reportedly visited Taiwan’s economics minister, Wang Mei-Hua earlier this month to request the country’s assistance in helping South Korea meet its chips demand.
According to media reports, local semiconductor chip makers like Samsung Electronics are unable to meet domestic demand resulting in dwindling supplies for carmakers, especially Hyundai and Kia. Both the Korean carmakers estimate their current chip supply will last them only for the next three months. South Korea produces around 2.2pc of its automotive semiconductor chips locally with the balance being imported.
The Asian nation has become the latest country after the US, Germany, and Japan to ask Taiwan for aid to mitigate the semiconductor chip crisis that is impacting automotive production across the world.
Japanese carmaker Toyota reported on Friday that its Czech unit is set to suspend automobile production at the Kolin plant in eastern Prague. The shutdown will continue for 14 days, starting Mar 22. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Czech produces around 200,000 vehicles per year. Nissan has also suspended production at its plants in France, while US automaker Ford has made further production cuts in the US due to the semiconductor chip shortage.