Reuters US Business
By Aditi Shah, Daniel Leussink and Rachel More
TOKYO/BERLIN (Reuters) -Global automakers are scrambling to find chips and checking with suppliers to see if they have enough stockpiled, as a deepening semiconductor supply crunch related to Dutch firm Nexperia threatens car production across the industry.
Beijing banned exports of Nexperia's products from China after the Dutch government seized control of the chipmaker last month, citing concerns about the transfer of technology to its Chinese parent, Wingtech, which has been flagged by the U.S. as a possible national security risk.
On Wednesday, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association warned of imminent disruption to automotive factory schedules from Nexperia-related chip shortages. "The industry is currently working through reserve stocks but supplies are rapidly dwindling" and alternative suppliers will need months to build up stocks, the group said.
Nissan Motor and Mercedes-Benz are among the carmakers trying to get to grips with an uncertain supply situation, with Nissan saying it had enough chips until the first week of November.
Honda suspended production at a Mexican plant on Tuesday, and has started to adjust production in the U.S. and Canada, a spokesperson said.
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Some manufacturers in Brazil may have to halt operations within two to three weeks if the crisis continues, according to a government official there.
Nexperia's chips are widely used in automotive components, making the supply crunch the latest challenge for an industry already grappling with U.S. tariffs and Chinese curbs on rare earth exports.
"It's a big issue," Nissan's Chief Performance Officer Guillaume Cartier told reporters at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo. "For the moment we don't have full visibility."
Cartier said the automaker was "OK to the first week of November" in terms of chip supply.
Even if automakers had learned a lesson from the pandemic-era shortage and stockpiled chips, they were still at the mercy of their suppliers, including smaller ones, he said. Although it was possible to have visibility at its biggest "Tier 1" suppliers, that became more difficult further down the supply chain, he said.
Marc Winterhoff, CEO of U.S. electric-vehicle maker Lucid Group, said the company's engineering team had been finding alternative supplies, and the impact on production plans had been pushed out. "It's developing in the right direction," he said at the Reuters Automotive USA conference in Detroit.
General Motors is managing the issue and has not had factory output affected, a spokesperson said.
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"It goes without saying that we're scouring the world to look for alternatives," Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius said, adding that the German automaker was covered for the short term. This is different from the last chip crisis because now the issue is rooted in politics and will require a political solution, Kaellenius said.
It is also a reminder that global supply chains leave manufacturers vulnerable to global trade friction.
"In a modern high-tech car, you have pretty much all five continents inside," Kaellenius said.
Automakers are looking at production stoppages or the use of alternative parts to ride out shortages, said Klaus Schmitz, a partner at consultancy Arthur D. Little.
But ultimately, companies - and governments - will want to sit down with China to find a solution.
"For sure, the companies will now negotiate with China. Governments are negotiating with China, most prominently the U.S.," said Schmitz.
"The real impact needs to be seen, but it's very likely a quite critical situation."
(Reporting by Aditi Shah and Daniel Leussink in Tokyo, Rachel More in Berlin and Nora Eckert in Detroit; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Kim Coghill, Kirsten Donovan and Mark Potter)
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