Germany seeks Taiwan’s help to overcome automobile chip shortages

Germany has been facing a shortage of auto chip supply and has asked Taiwan to urge its local manufacturers to help in easing this issue. Apparently, the shortage of semiconductor chips has affected the former’s automobile industry.The shortage has hampered the economic recovery of Germany after the Coronavirus pandemic. At the moment, automobile manufacturers across the globe have been shutting down their assembly lines due to issues with the delivery of semiconductors.

The shortages have affected automobile giants like Volkswagen, Ford Motors, Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor, Fiat Chrysler, and even other car manufacturers as well. In a letter, the German Economy Minister, Peter Altmaier asked his Taiwanese counterpart Wang Mei-hua regarding this issue. The letter was to address the current issue that also included the Taiwan Semiconductor Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, in the talks.

TSMC is also one of Germany’s largest chip suppliers. Altmaier stated that “I would be pleased if you could take on this matter and underline the importance of additional semiconductor capacities for the German automotive industry to TSMC.” The letter aims at getting additional capacities at TSMC to deliver semiconductors in both the short and medium terms. Furthermore, the German automobile is already in talks with TSMC about raising deliveries