Malaysia's indefinite lockdown may exacerbate global chip supply shortage

Sources revealed that Malaysia's nationwide lockdown may disrupt production at local semiconductor factories, exacerbating the global semiconductor supply shortage. It remains to be seen whether the incident will further affect the global automotive supply chain.

Digitimes reported that the number of cases of COVID-19 in Malaysia has surged recently, forcing the local government to extend the national lockdown indefinitely. Sources said that local chip factories in Malaysia experienced a temporary shutdown and then allowed as few as 30% of employees to maintain production.

Nevertheless, sources revealed that as the epidemic in Malaysia is still out of control, limited production at local chip factories may cause supply chain disruptions worldwide.

It is reported that more than 50 international chip suppliers have factories in Malaysia, including Infineon, NXP, Renesas Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, Intel, AMD, and ASE.