ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

Three Democratic senators are asking the Taiwanese government to help the U.S. with a chip shortage that has idled auto plants and sent workers packing throughout the industry as the global economy struggles to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The global chip shortage that’s hampering companies from carmakers to computer manufacturers may linger for years, according to Germany’s biggest semiconductor company, Infineon Technologies AG.

President Joe Biden will ultimately decide whether foreign chip producers will receive some of the $52 billion in funding planned to help ease the shortage that has hammered manufacturing, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.

Rising demand from electric vehicles and challenges in securing raw materials will deliver a battery supply crunch for automakers already grappling with a chip crisis, according to a key Chinese manufacturer.

The Biden administration is laying the groundwork to spend roughly $52 billion on semiconductor research and manufacturing even as it’s awaiting congressional approval of the funding, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.

Biden administration officials say they’re starting to see signs of relief for the global semiconductor supply shortage, including commitments from manufacturers to make more automotive-grade chips for car companies that have had to idle production.

Daimler AG and Jaguar Land Rover became the latest carmakers to warn of crimped sales as a result of the global semiconductor shortage, with the latter flagging that deliveries in the second quarter will be 50% worse than initially thought.

A year ago, Ford Motor Co. dealer Rhett Ricart had a lot full of cars and hardly any customers. This year, he has a lot full of customers and hardly any cars.

Intel Corp. CEO Pat Gelsinger predicted the shortage of semiconductors that’s hurting industries from automotive to consumer electronics will bottom out in the second half of this year before starting to improve.

President Joe Biden’s blueprint for the U.S. semiconductor industry marks an ambitious effort to set industrial policy for a critical sector of the economy, but the strategy will need more money and global support to take back chip supremacy and pre-empt a rival effort from China.