Toyota raises profit forecast 54%, unfazed by global chip shortage

Unfazed by the global chip shortage, Toyota Motor Corp raised its full-year earnings to 54% on Wednesday, claiming it has an up to four-month stockpile of chips.

Toyota Motor fearlessly increased its sales forecast for the fiscal year ending in March despite rival Japanese automakers including Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Honda Motor Co Ltd announced they would shed production due to semiconductor shortages.

Toyota shares were seen up 1.7%, after posting its record high since July 2015. Toyota’s confidence stems from the constant provision of its short-term and long-term production volume plans to suppliers.

Toyota now anticipates yielding an operating profit of 2 trillion yen ($19.13 billion). This estimate is stronger than its previous estimate of 1.3 trillion yen and even higher than the average profit forecast of 1.542 trillion yen according to estimates from 23 analysts, all from Refinitiv data.

Moreover, Toyota reported a 987.9 billion yen profit in the fourth quarter, beating the average 565.51 billion yen profit from nine analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.