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26/08/2021

Taiwan Reassures The US Over Addressing The Global Chip Shortage




Taiwan Reassures The US Over Addressing The Global Chip Shortage
Following a meeting with the newly-appointed de facto United States ambassador in Taipei, Taiwan, the island’s Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua said that Taiwan is doing all it can to address the global shortage of semiconductors – an issue that has caused production of cars by most major global auto companies.
 
Last week, an appeal to the Taiwanese government was made by Democratic US senators from Michigan and Ohio, to help the country in addressing the shortage of semiconductor chips primarily because the island is the largest maker of the chips and is a critical player in the global efforts to solve the shortage issue.
 
The issue of the chip shortage was raised by the top US diplomat in Taiwan, Sandra Oudkirk, during the meeting with her, Wang said.
 
"I mentioned that Taiwan is doing its best to assist on the chips," Wang told reporters in Taipei.
 
She added that in the first half of the current year, the production of MCU or microcontroller units that is widely used for auto chip making increased by 60 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.
 
"We are working as hard as we can," she said.
 
Wang has taken personal responsibility to seek the help of chip makers in Taiwan to speed up the pace of production and has said on more than one occasion that the all that can be done to resolve the shortage was being done by the government and chip making industry.
 
By the fourth quarter of 2021, a balance would be reached between supply and demand for auto chips globally, said Wang's ministry in response to the letter on Saturday and reiterated that it is committed to taking the its best efforts to address the shortage that has affected production lines all across the world.
 
With Taiwan trying to reassure the United States, the issue of shortage of semiconductor chips has assumed a strong diplomatic hue. The US has an important role to play with respect ot Taiwan because it is the  most important international supporter and arms supplier of Taiwan. It is therefore imperative for Taiwan ot reassure the IUS that it is doing all that i9t can do to address the issue. Currently Taiwan is facing an increase in military pressure from China which considers Taiwan as its own territory.
 
There will expectedly be a gradual easing of the auto chip shortage for its customers staring from this quarter, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the largest contract chip maker of the world, had said last month. It however said that it expects the global shortage of semiconductor manufacturing capacity could extend into the next year as well.
 
Another of the major tech giants of Taiwan, Foxconn, which is the primary assembler of Apple's iPhones, issued a caution about the company needing to closely monitor whether the worsening Covid-19 crisis in the Asian region, where most of the semiconductor makers of the world are located, further impacts the global tech supply chain.
 
(Source:www.ndtv.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell

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