Toyota Motor said it would restart some domestic auto parts production from today, the first resumption of production in Japan by the world’s No.1 carmaker since Friday’s devastating earthquake.
Factories will begin making parts to be shipped to service centres for repairs to Toyota vehicles already on the road, a spokesman for the company said.
It is still undecided, however, when it will restart its 12 main assembly plants, the spokesman said.
From Monday, Toyota will also begin making car parts for shipment to assembly plants overseas, the company said.
With few of their plants damaged by Japan’s biggest earthquake, Toyota, Nissan Motor and Honda Motor can limit losses once idle lines restart, but analysts say a post-temblor surge in the yen’s value may be more damaging.
The most affected will be Toyota, which still builds 38 percent of its vehicles at home, compared with a 24 percent of output at Nissan and 22 percent at Honda. Toyota ships more than half of its domestic output to overseas markets.
“The direction of the Japanese yen over the next three to six months as a result of this catastrophe will also affect the profitability of Japanese automakers,” Fitch Ratings said in a report.
The US dollar has fallen 3 percent against the yen since the disaster and is now close to its 1995 record low of ￥79.75.
Traders and investors are watching for signs of repatriation by Japanese investors and companies because after the Kobe earthquake in 1995, the yen surged to an all-time high against the US dollar based on similar flows. So far though, most traders have not seen repatriation taking place.
Honda yesterday reiterated its plans to suspend all production in Japan until at least Sunday. Nissan said output remained stopped at all four of its home car assembly factories and said it would consult with parts makers before deciding on a resumption. Nissan made 81,851 cars in January in Japan.
Goldman has estimated the profit impact of stopping production for one day would be about ￥6 billion (US$74 million) for Toyota and ￥2 billion for Honda and Nissan.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
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