Major automotive chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp. said Thursday it will not see a full recovery in shipments at a fire-hit plant in Japan until mid-August rather than in July as previously expected.

Shipments have recovered to around 90 percent of pre-fire levels at the plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, north of Tokyo, but trouble with manufacturing equipment has prevented the major chip supplier from achieving its time frame for a full recovery.

"We are expecting shipments to be restored 100 percent and rise sharply in mid-August," Renesas CEO Hidetoshi Shibata told a press briefing. "We are a little bit behind...but output is increasing."

Output capacity has already fully recovered at the Naka plant following the March 19 fire, but it takes time for shipments to recover to pre-fire levels, according to Renesas.

Renesas said in June that shipments would be restored fully around the third week of July.

Automakers have been grappling with a global shortage of semiconductors, with some forced to curb production. Chips are used in everything from laptops and game consoles to cars, and the coronavirus pandemic has boosted demand.

Renesas provides semiconductors to major automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co.

Nissan has said annual output would decrease by 25,000 units for fiscal 2021 due to the global semiconductor shortage.

==Kyodo

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