Japan seeks Taiwan's cooperation in alternative chip production after Renesas fire

Japan has asked some Taiwanese manufacturers to cooperate in an alternative production of semiconductors after a chip plant owned by Renesas Electronics Corp. was hit by a fire this month.

The Japanese government has sought help for Renesas in restoring production, contacting companies at home and overseas to provide parts and machinery.

Industry minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said they are a;also communicating with several Taiwanese firms to speed up the procurement of manufacturing equipment.

A Renesas-owned Naka chip plant in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, was hit by fire earlier this month due to a power surge in one of the machines, putting more pressure on the broader chips industry amid a global shortage of semiconductors.

The company, which has around 30 percent share of the global market for microcontroller unit chips used in cars, said 23 machines need to be replaced.

Renesas CEO Hidetoshi Shibata said that while production would resume within a month, the plant's recovery to pre-fire levels would take 100 to 120 days from the incident.

The extended outage could add to a global shortage of chips, which is disrupting the production of cars and electronic devices.