Japan’s Rohm says that vital semiconductors for automobiles and industrial machinery will likely remain in short supply at least throughout next year, adding to ominous warnings about further fallout from the global chip crisis.
The Kyoto-based chipmaker, whose customers include Toyota, Ford and Honda, has been hampered by a severe shortage of key materials as well as full production lines, said CEO Isao Matsumoto. The company started beefing up its capacity last September and plans to spend another 70 billion yen ($636 million) in the current fiscal year, but the full contribution from such investments will not be seen immediately because production machinery is taking longer to arrive, he added.
“All of our production facilities have been running at their full capacity since September last year, but orders from customers are overwhelming,” Matsumoto said in an interview this week. “I do not think we can fulfill all the backlog of orders next year.”