Hit by shortage, Volkswagen demands boost to Europe chip sector

General view at Marshall Volkswagen car dealership, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Milton Keynes, Britain, June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Boyers/Files

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Europe needs to stump up cash to boost its chip industry, a board member of the continent's largest carmaker Volkswagen said, pointing to a global semiconductor shortage that has highlighted dependence on foreign players.

"We won't produce chips ourselves," Markus Duesmann, Volkswagen's board member in charge of research & development and head of luxury unit Audi, told Reuters. "But of course we would like to have strong chipmakers that are at least on par with Asia and the United States."