(Washington) US automaker Ford will slow production in North America next week due to semiconductor shortages, according to news reports on Saturday.
Posted at 10:51 a.m.
Ford plans to slow down or temporarily shut down eight of its factories in the United States, Mexico and Canada, according to several American media.
Production at factories in Michigan, Chicago and Cuautitlan (Mexico) will be suspended. The pace will be slowed in Kansas City, Dearborn, Kentucky and Louisville. In Oakville, Canada, overtime will be waived.
Contacted by AFP, the manufacturer did not respond immediately mid-morning Saturday.
A shortage of chips, components essential to the manufacture of cars and mainly manufactured in Asia, has slowed automobile production sharply since the start of the pandemic, driving up prices, and accounting for a significant part of the high inflation experienced by the United States. United.
President Joe Biden wants to bring production back to the United States, and multiplies announcements on the subject. Especially since the trade war with China is one of the few subjects on which he walks in the footsteps of his predecessor Donald Trump.
The House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill to locate in the United States the manufacture of these electronic chips, which are also essential for the production of smart phones and medical equipment.
The “America COMPETES act” provides 52 billion dollars to revitalize the American semiconductor industry.
At the end of January, it was the giant Intel which announced the launch at the end of the year of the construction of two semiconductor factories near the capital of the State of Ohio, Columbus, with the objective to start the production of chips from 2025. The investment, of 20 billion dollars, had been described as “historic” by Joe Biden.
Ford returned to the green in 2021, and reported net income of $17.9 billion on Thursday. But the automaker remains troubled by supply chain issues.