Toyota Motor Corp is to reduce global production by 40 percent next month, the last major automaker to cut production due to critical shortages of semiconductors, the Nikkei business newspaper reported yesterday.
Toyota has fared better than rivals, having built a larger stockpile of chips due to a business continuity plan revamped in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
However, a resurgence in COVID-19 cases across Asia has compounded the semiconductor crunch.
Photo: AFP
Shares in the world’s largest automaker by sales volume slid on the report, ending down 4.4 percent in its largest daily drop since December 2018, pulling the benchmark Nikkei average to a seven-month low.
Toyota had been aiming to manufacture about 900,000 vehicles next month, but has reduced that to about 500,000, the newspaper said.
Toyota this month said that it was facing an unpredictable business environment due to fresh COVID-19 cases in emerging economies, the semiconductor shortage and soaring material prices.
However, the automaker maintained its forecast to sell 8.7 million vehicles worldwide for the fiscal year ending in March next year.
Starting early next month, Toyota would temporarily suspend production lines at domestic factories, including its Takaoka plant in Aichi Prefecture, the newspaper said.
Production in North America, China and Europe are also likely to be scaled back by tens of thousands of units, it said.
The automaker halted assembly lines at some domestic factories from late last month to early this month, including its Tahara plant, due to a surge in COVID-19 infections in Vietnam, which constrained the supply of parts, the newspaper said.
A person familiar with the matter this month told Reuters that Toyota had suspended production at one assembly line in Guangzhou, China, which the automaker operates with its Chinese joint-venture partner Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd (廣汽集團).
In Thailand as well, Toyota last month suspended production at three factories due to a COVID-19-related parts shortage.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS