Renesas Electronics Corp. resumed operations at the clean room that was damaged by fire last month, as the key manufacturer of automotive chips moves closer to restarting production this month.

The clean room of Renesas’s N3 building in Ibaraki Prefecture went online around 9 p.m. on Friday, the company said in a statement Saturday. Renesas remains on track to resume production within a month from the March 19 fire, it said.

The accident has added to a global shortage of semiconductors that has caused automakers to slow production and miss out on sales. The plant makes chips used in automotive and industrial applications. Major automakers including Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. use Renesas chips.