Ford Motor, the second largest automaker in the United States.CEO Jim Farley said on Thursday that the company was redesigning car parts to use more readily available chips in response to a global shortage of semiconductors.

Jim Farley also said at Ford's online annual shareholders' meeting that the company was considering other future strategies, including establishing chip buffers and signing direct supply agreements with contract manufacturers that make semiconductor wafers.

In general, carmakers usually acquire chips through their largest suppliers, rather than dealing directly with chipmakers and wafer foundry factories that make semiconductors.

Chip shortages have led global carmakers to cut production.Ford said last month that the problem would cost it $2.5 billion this year and halve car production in the second quarter, when the shortage would be the worst. Ford has sometimes had to suspend production of its high-margin Fmuri 150 pickup trucks because of supply shortages.

About 60 per cent of the chips used in Ford are 55nm or larger and the supply of these chips is limited, Farley said on Thursday.

Ford is considering long-term adjustments to the way the chips are used, he said.

"We not only have to redesign a lot of components to match the chips that are easier to use. But we think we need to consider buffering inventory and sign direct contracts with some contract factories.

"We think that as we get more electronic components, this will be a really key approach to our supply chain."

Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford also said on Thursday that the company would seek to resume dividends "as soon as possible." Ford suspended dividends to save cash after the outbreak last year, saving the company $2.4 billion a year.