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According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 11th (local time), White House spokesman Jen Saki said at a press conference on the 11th, regarding the expansion of automobile production cuts due to a shortage of global semiconductors, Policy”.
As global automakers such as Toyota, Volkswagen, and Honda are reducing production in a row, GM of the United States has also decided to look at the situation on a weekly basis from the 8th to three assembly plants in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The suspension of operations of the company was extended until mid-next month. Ford also reduced production of the best-selling F-150 pickup truck, which has high margins and high demand.
On that day, the American Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in a letter to President Biden said, “The cost to bear is too high due to the shortage of semiconductors, which could be fatal, especially for the US economy and national security.” Has been urged.
“We are looking into the problems of the supply chain (supply chain) in particular,” said Saki. “We are discussing additional measures to secure semiconductors, and to this end, we are also discussing with industry and semiconductor producers.”
In particular, “In addition to semiconductor companies, we will prepare a federal government support plan by collecting opinions from consumers such as automakers,” he said. “In the coming weeks, President Biden will sign an executive order calling for a’comprehensive inspection of core goods and supply chain’.” Said. “The supply chain inspection will be mainly to find a way to keep pace with securing supplies through the expansion of production in the United States, to solving the shortcomings through cooperation with allies.”
The reason that the Biden government is in a hurry to respond to the shortage of semiconductor supply is that a prolonged cut in production by car makers will adversely affect the economy and employment. However, there are opinions that it is unclear how effective the US, which is strongly dependent on Asia for semiconductor procurement, can come up with effective measures.
Earlier, the U.S. government held a high-level economic dialogue with TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, and the Taiwanese government demanding an increase in semiconductor supply.