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[Tokio 21 Reuters]–Renesas Electronics will encounter the fire that broke out on the 19th in the Naka factory (Hitachinaka city, Ibaraki prefecture), which mainly handles semiconductors for automobiles, on the afternoon of the 21st, and will return to production level original in about a month. It was revealed that he would aim. Renesas wants to consider an alternative production to minimize the impact of the problem that occurred due to the shortage of semiconductors around the world.
President Hidetoshi Shibata said, “I want to get production to resume within a month” and said the goal of resuming production within a month is “a goal that includes returning to original capacity (production capacity).” “The uncertainty remains,” he said, as there are manufacturing facilities that need to be replaced.
The fire broke out in a 300mm line liner device handling advanced products. Eleven units, or 2% of the line, were burned. A fire broke out before 3:00 am on the 19th, and it was confirmed that the fire was extinguished after 8:00 am.
Two thirds of the affected semiconductors are for automobiles and the rest are for industry, infrastructure and telecommunications. It will take about a week to get a complete picture of the impact on work in progress already at stake. The 200mm line and wafer testing process are up and running and product shipments continue.
The restoration work is focused on repairing badly burned parts and removing the effects of soot stains throughout the clean room, and is also supported by some 50 business partners such as automakers and auto parts manufacturers.
Global supply and demand for semiconductors is tight and some automakers are already adjusting their production. The fire could have more consequences.
President Shibata said: “I am afraid that the impact on the supply of semiconductors will be very great. I would like to minimize it with all measures, such as alternative production.” He explained that two-thirds of the products affected by the fire could be technically replaced by other factories of the company or foundry of the production contractor, and they have already begun to consider and order. However, “alternative production has become difficult because there are no vacancies in production capacity in the entire industry,” said President Shibata.
The company had in-process product inventories that had completed the pre-process of wafer circuit forming, and had adopted a mechanism to respond to fluctuations in demand. It has temporarily stopped production, so it is said that there are almost no such inventories at this time.
The period from production to shipment depends on the amount of work in process left on equipment that was not damaged by fire. The Naka factory is dedicated to pre-processing, and the period from loading wafers of raw materials to shipment is about 70 days for the main product.
The 300mm line has monthly sales of around 17 billion yen per month, which is less than 30% of company-wide sales. Most of the impact on sales is expected to occur in the April-June period.
The Naka factory, which had a fire, was damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, and a manufacturer of auto parts that could not receive the supply of semiconductors for vehicles from Renesas was forced to adjust production.
Noriyuki Hirata Edited by Nobuhiro Kubo
