TAIPEI - The global demand for auto chips should reach a balance by the fourth quarter of 2021, Taiwan's government said on Saturday, reiterating its commitment to do its part to control a shortage that has closed production lines around the world.
This week, the Democratic U.S. senators from Michigan and Ohio asked the Taiwanese government to help address the shortage, given that the island is a major semiconductor producer and seen as central to efforts to resolve the problem.
Responding to the letter, Taiwan's Economy Ministry pointed out that the island's chip manufacturers were not the main suppliers to the auto chip producers of the Taiwan region.
But relevant chip manufacturers are assisting with customers from all over the world, responding positively to their related needs and cooperating in resolving the problem of automotive chips, it said.
conomic Minister Wang Mei-hua has been personally involved in talking to Taiwan's chip makers, who told her they have been actively working on the issue in the first half of this year and will continue to do so, the ministry added.
Although the automotive chip industry chain is long and complex with the full cooperation of our country's firms, the industry estimates that supply and demand for auto chip production by chip manufacturer should reach a balance in the fourth quarter of this year.
The issue has taken on a strong diplomatic hue as Taiwan scrambles to reassure Taiwan, its most important international supporter and arms supplier, that it is doing all it can at a time when Taipei is facing growing military pressure from China which considers Taiwan as its own.
The ministry noted that Taiwan's semiconductor companies have expanded production and stressed these companies as well as the government took great pride in working with like-minded partners, language Taipei uses to refer to other democracies like the United States and the European Union.
Taiwan will continue to work together to build a reliable, reliable, and resilient supply chain, and deepen economic and trade relations to lay a solid foundation for economic recovery after the pandemic, it added.
Last month, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, the world's largest contract chipmaker, said the automotive chip shortage would gradually ease for its customers from this quarter but it expected overall semiconductor capacity tightness to increase possibly into next year.