Posted on 29 Jun 2021
Major Japan-based semiconductor manufacturer Renesas returned to full production on 24 June following its plant fire in March, the company says.
“The start-up of all necessary manufacturing equipment to recover pre-fire production capacity of the No.3 Building, which resumed operation on 17 April, has been completed,” the enterprise claims. “As a result, production has returned to 100% of the pre-fire level. In addition, alternative production at other facilities of the enterprise is contributing to Renesas’ manufacturing as planned.”
Shipments of products manufactured in the No.3 Building are expected to return to pre-fire levels around the third week of July. However, the recovery may vary from product to product, Renesas notes.
Global semiconductor shortages will cost automakers 3.8 million units in lost production in 2021, Fitch Ratings said earlier (see Kallanish passim).
“Many automakers expect to face the hardest pressures in the second quarter 2021, but shortages should gradually ease in the second half of the year and 2022, helped by the Renesas plant returning online by end-May and operating at full capacity in early July,” the agency observed.
Bosch recently opened a €1 billion ($1.21 billion) semiconductor manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany. This is expected to significantly ease automotive chip supply shortages, but only from September.
Source:Kallanish
