Taiwan says U.S. thanks it for help on auto chips amid shortage

TAIPEI — The United States thanked Taiwan on Friday for assist on resolving an car chip shortage that has snarled output, but there was no dialogue on prioritizing the generating of these chips, Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua claimed right after a superior-level meeting.

Vehicle factories all over the U.S. and the planet are idling assembly traces since of the chip shortages, which in some circumstances have been exacerbated by the previous Trump administration’s steps versus Chinese chip providers.

Taiwan, home to tech companies these types of as Taiwan Semiconductor Producing Co., the world’s largest agreement chip maker, has become front and heart of endeavours to solve the shortage.

“The U.S. aspect thanked us for our assist on this,” Wang informed reporters of the meeting, which she claimed was attended by senior executives from providers which includes TSMC and Qualcomm Inc .

But she claimed the aim of the talks was not on car chips and the difficulty of irrespective of whether to prioritize their output was not introduced up.

Wang claimed TSMC also talked over its prepared new $12 billion plant in the U.S. state of Arizona, although she did not give specifics.

TSMC declined to comment on the meeting.

The car chip shortage has affected Volkswagen Group, Ford Motor Co., Stellantis (the previous Fiat Chrysler), Subaru Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and other automakers.

The closed-door function, joined by the Taiwan minister and what she described as “incredibly senior U.S. officers,” is the 1st declared superior-level trade involving Taiwan and the Biden administration, which took office environment on Jan. twenty.

The Condition Section claimed last week that Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade Coverage and Negotiations Matt Murray would just take aspect.

The de facto U.S. ambassador to Taiwan, Brent Christensen, did show up at, and was found obtaining into his vehicle right after the meeting was about.

Inspite of a absence of official diplomatic ties, the U.S. is Chinese-claimed Taiwan’s most vital global backer and arms provider.