South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co said Tuesday it will suspend production at its # 1 plant in Ulsan, South Korea from April 7-14 due to a shortage of semiconductor chips and supply problems for electrical components.
The company said it had problems supplying semiconductor parts for the front camera system of its Kona SUV and the power electrical modules for the IONIQ 5.
Recall that a fire at a Renesas chip manufacturing plant in Hitachin-Naka, Japan in mid-March caused more damage than was originally anticipated. A spokeswoman for a Japanese semiconductor manufacturer told Reuters that it will take at least a month to resume production.
At the same time, Samsung Electronics announced that production at its Austin, Texas-based chip factory has returned to near-normal levels as of last week. Samsung and other chipmakers with manufacturing facilities in the area were halted due to an abnormal cold in mid-February.
A shortage of microcircuits has already forced the largest car manufacturers around the world to shut down production lines. According to analysts, such shutdowns do not yet affect steel purchases, as automakers prefer to build under-equipped cars and leave them in the warehouse pending the resolution of the chip issues.
