A group of 15 US senators, including US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and US Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, on Tuesday urged the White House to work with the US Congress to address the global semiconductor shortage that is hampering auto manufacturing.
The senators, from key auto states like Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and South Carolina, in a letter to the White House said that the “shortage threatens our post-pandemic economic recovery.”
Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines because of problems in the delivery of semiconductors, which have been exacerbated in some cases by the former US administration’s actions against Chinese chip factories.
The shortage has affected Volkswagen AG, Ford Motor Co, Subaru Corp, Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and other automakers.
“We believe that the incoming administration can continue to play a helpful role in alleviating the worst impacts of the shortage on American workers,” the senators wrote.
A US spokeswoman for Nissan on Tuesday said that the automaker made some short-term production adjustments because of the shortage, “starting with three non-production days on the truck line at our Canton, Mississippi, facility.”
The senators, including auto caucus chairs Democratic US Senator Sherrod Brown and Republican US Senator Rob Portman, urged the White House “to support efforts to secure the necessary funding to swiftly implement the semiconductor-related provisions in the most recent National Defense Authorization Act, which would boost the production of semiconductor manufacturing and incent the domestic production of semiconductors in the future.”
Matt Blunt, who heads the American Automotive Policy Council representing US automakers, praised the senators “who recognize it is a significant challenge for the auto sector.”
The White House did not immediately comment.
Automakers around the world are adjusting assembly lines caused by the shortages and have cut some production, caused by manufacturing delays that some semiconductor makers blame on a faster-than-expected recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, automotive groups accounted for about one-10th of the US$429 billion semiconductor market, according to McKinsey & Co.
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