What plagues the entire automotive industry in 2021 is the shortage of chips. Even because of the shortage of chips, many automakers have limited production capacity and declined sales. The root cause of the chip shortage is related to the epidemic. So now the global epidemic has not been completely controlled. The problem of chip shortage may persist for a long time.
Many automakers have stressed that the chip shortage may be greatly alleviated by the end of 2021. But is that the case?
Recently, there are media reports that the cumulative orders for semiconductor chips from major global automakers next year will exceed the production capacity of semiconductor chips.
According to data from the Korea Automotive Research Institute, the cumulative orders for semiconductors in major cars around the world exceed the semiconductor production capacity of next year by as much as 30%, and automotive semiconductor companies are accepting orders in 2023. The average lead time after an order in the semiconductor industry also increased from 22.9 weeks in October this year to 23.3 weeks in a month.
The automotive semiconductor industry plans to focus on investing in the development of next-generation semiconductors, increasing consignment production, and solving the problem of semiconductor supply shortage. STMicroelectronics and ON Semiconductor acquired SiC manufacturers this year and are expanding volume production, while Infineon plans to increase production by expanding its plants in Austria and Germany.
Major global automakers are also starting to collaborate on semiconductor technology, internationalization, and supply chain management. Ford plans to vertically integrate technology through a strategic partnership with GlobalFoundry, and GM plans to work with automotive semiconductor companies such as NXP, Qualcomm, and TSMC to respond to growing demand for semiconductors.
Hyundai, Toyota, Tesla and Volkswagen are pushing the semiconductors themselves. Through a variety of effective measures, the chip shortage has been somewhat alleviated. But the focus is on a small number of high-performance semiconductor chips, and high-performance semiconductor chips are still in long-term shortage.
Automakers are looking for ways to use general-purpose chips, such as Tesla, Volkswagen and Nissan, which are replacing custom chips with general-purpose chips to ensure supply flexibility. GM plans to reduce diversity by 95 percent by consolidating semiconductors currently in use into three product groups. Stelantis also plans to work with Foxconn to develop four new semiconductor product lines to replace 80 percent of chip demand.