Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Nidec Corp, a company that makes electric motors, said on Tuesday that it would combine group semiconduc...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Nidec Corp, a company that makes electric motors, said on Tuesday that it would combine group semiconductor purchases into a single procurement unit. This would strengthen its relationships with chip makers and make sure it could get key parts even though the supply situation is still uncertain.
Ryuji Omura, deputy chief technology officer of Nidec, which makes motors for electric vehicles, household appliances, and other products, said, "The chip industry environment is more uncertain than it has ever been."
The fact that the company decided to centralize procurement shows that chip shortages, which have been especially bad for automakers, may not be over. This is forcing companies to take more aggressive steps to make sure they have enough parts to meet the demand for their products and devices.
Toyota Motor Corp, which makes more cars than any other company in the world, cut its global production plan by 100,000 vehicles this month because of chip shortages and other problems caused by the pandemic.
Denso Corp is one of Toyota's most important parts suppliers. In February, they agreed to buy a 10% stake in a semiconductor plant that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is building in Japan. This will help them make sure they have enough microcontroller chips.
Omura said that Nidec would work more closely with suppliers on chip design and production as part of its "make or buy" procurement strategy. He talked about the new chip strategy of the company during a presentation.
The company is making more energy-efficient e-axle electric vehicle motors so it can get up to 45 percent of the growing global market by 2030.
