How Will the Global Semiconductor Crunch Impact South Korea?
April 1, 2021
Most South Korean conglomerates have weathered the shortage much better than their global competitors. But KEI’s Kyle Ferrier notes in his latest article for the Diplomat Magazine that this could change as early as this month.
He points out:
Carmaker giant Hyundai announced this week that it would need to temporarily suspend production at its Ulsan plant of its Kona and electric-powered IONIQ 5 models due to lack of chips. The company had previously escaped this setback faced by many of its competitors because it maintained a large stockpile of semiconductors. Even though it is one of the world’s top chip manufacturers, Samsung also expects the shortage to cut into profits next quarter and even delay the launch of a new Galaxy Note smartphone.
He sees this shortage as potentially affecting the broader efforts of the South Korean economy to recover from the COVID-19 induced pandemic.