Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) will prioritize production of auto chips if it is able to further increase capacity, Taiwan's Economics Ministry said on Monday after Minister Wang Mei-hua spoke to senior company executives.

The ministry said TSMC had told them on Sunday they will “optimize” the production process of chips to make it more efficient and prioritize auto chip production if it is able to further increase capacity.

Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines due to problems in the delivery of semiconductors, which in some cases have been exacerbated by the former Trump administration's actions against key Chinese chip factories.

In 2020, auto chips accounted only for 3% of TSMC's sales, lagging smartphones' 48% and 33% for high performance chips.

In the fourth quarter, sales for TSMC's auto chips jumped 27% from the previous quarter, but still only accounted for 3% of overall sales in the quarter.

TSMC says there's not much to do about it, “They dropped their orders due to various reasons when demand was low amid the pandemic. But now they want to boost their production.”