Industry sources say that the 8-inch production capacity of automotive chips will be tight until 2025

According to industry sources, the shortage of automotive chips will continue until 2022, especially the chips produced by 8-inch wafers may not be alleviated until 2025, because most of the production capacity of the 8-inch fab in the next few years has been fully booked, and it is becoming more and more difficult to expand production capacity.

According to Digitimes, sources say most of the automotive chips are made at 8-inch fabs, and since the second half of 2021, automakers have tried all possible ways to secure more foundry capacity, including signing long-term contracts and paying sizable upfront payments. They all realized that the capacity expansion of the 8-inch fab was limited by "no related manufacturing equipment available."

The source further noted that the total 8-inch capacity of the automotive supply chain remains in short supply by 2025, including the capacity available at FOUNDRies in Europe, the United States and Japan, as well as foundries in Taiwan and Chinese mainland.

"At the same time, automotive customers' demand for 12-inch fab capacity is much lower than that of 8-inch capacity, and ICT customers contribute most of the orders for 12-inch capacity, adding that whether 12-inch foundry capacity will continue to be tight will depend on the sales performance of ICT products next year." The source finally said.

(Proofreading/Yuki)