Auto industry braces for more chip shortages after fire

<p style="text-align: center;"><img title="1616478897106344.jpg" alt="6.jpg" src="/ueditor/php/upload/image/20210323/1616478897106344.jpg"/></p><p>&nbsp;A fire at a plant owned by Japanese chipmaker&nbsp;Renesas&nbsp;could deepen the ongoing global semiconductor shortage that has especially hampered automobile production.<br/><br/>The company, which makes chips for&nbsp;Toyota,&nbsp;Nissan&nbsp;and&nbsp;Honda, expects production at one of the buildings at its Naka Factory in Hitachinaka to be halted for a month. Shares in all three automakers fell between 2% and 3% on Monday.<br/><br/>Tokyo-based Renesas said the fire started when some equipment overheated and ignited, though it wasn&#39;t known what caused it to overheat. There were no casualties or damage to the building.<br/><br/>Renesas said two-thirds of the products made in the building could be produced elsewhere, although &quot;due to the recent increase in demand for semiconductors, the situation does not allow for all products to be immediately produced alternatively.&quot;<br/><br/>Separately last week, Nissan said it was temporarily shutting down production at factories in Smyrna, Tennessee; Canton, Mississippi; and in Aguascalientes, Mexico, due to the&nbsp;chip shortage.<br/><br/>Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler (now Stellantis) also say they have been affected by the shortage and forced to delay production of some models in order to keep other factories running.<br/><br/>The chip shortage, combined with a February winter storm, also recently forced Ford to build F-150 pickup trucks without some computers. The company said the pickups would be held at factories for &quot;a number of weeks,&quot; then shipped to dealers once computers are available and quality checks are done.<br/><br/>Industry officials say semiconductor companies diverted production to consumer electronics during the worst of the COVID-19 slowdown in auto sales last spring. Global automakers were forced to close plants to prevent the spread of the virus. When automakers recovered, there weren&#39;t enough chips as demand for personal electronics boomed.<br/></p>