According to the Nikkei Asian Review, in order to make up for the production loss, automakers increased production in the second half of last year, leading to a surge in semiconductor demand. Renesas CEO Hidetoshi Shibata warned that semiconductor supplies may continue to be tight in the first half of this year.

"Demand in the first half of 2021 is expected to be very strong," Hidetoshi Shibata said on the earnings call. "The performance from April to June will be stronger than that from January to March."

The challenge facing chip manufacturers is that it is difficult to expand production capacity in a short period of time. "It takes a long time to expand capacity," Hidetoshi Shibata said. "I don't think this year's capacity expansion will have a beneficial impact on global capacity."