The automotive industry "strong core stable chain": car companies to find a good solution to the supply of vehicle-grade chips

"In 2022, external shocks such as the epidemic and geopolitics still exist, the problem of insufficient production capacity of automotive chips has not been substantially alleviated, and the supply situation in the first quarter is still grim." Ping An Securities Research Report pointed out that in order to cope with the lack of cores, chip factories are increasing investment in vehicle-grade chip production capacity, car companies are also considering reshaping the supply chain, it is expected that the "lack of core" problem will be alleviated in the second half of this year, but the supply tension will continue until 2023.

Lin Nianxiu, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, also stressed recently that efforts should be made to solve the shortage of chips in manufacturing fields such as automobiles. "In 2021, due to the influence of various factors, there was a shortage of chips in the world. We will focus on this issue this year. ”

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the number of new energy vehicle bicycle chips required will exceed 1400 in 2022. Under the background of the sharp increase in chip applications and the prominent contradiction between supply shortage, domestic car companies have joined the "defense war" of the localization of vehicle-grade chips. The relevant person in charge of SAIC Motor Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "SAIC Motor", 600104.SH) told reporters that the company has clarified the localization strategy of large computing chip and MCU (micro-control unit) chip, and its subsidiaries have realized or are realizing the localization of vehicle-level chips.

Hubei Core Engine Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Core Engine Technology"), which is actually controlled by Geely Holding Group, launched a self-developed high-end intelligent cockpit platform main chip "Dragon Eagle One" in 2021. Wang Kai, director and CEO of Core Qing Technology, said in an interview with China Business Daily a few days ago: "The chip fills the gap in the field of the mainland's independent design of high-end intelligent cockpit platform main chips. ”

Focus on the problem of chip autonomy and controllability

In the view of many industry insiders, it is imperative to improve the domestic chip industry chain of vehicle regulations.

"At present, China is already the world's largest new car market, and its products are in the process of upgrading and transforming to intelligence, networking, and electrification, and the market for automotive chips with 'large computing power, high performance, and vehicle specification level' is huge." Chen Hong, secretary of the party committee and chairman of SAIC Motor, said that the mainland should increase policy support for domestic large computing chip and its supporting operating system, promote the localization of vehicle regulation and large computing chip, and support the coordinated development of the domestic automotive chip industry chain.

Fang Yunzhou, founder and chairman of Nezha Automobile, also pointed out: "The existing industrial chain will face great challenges in the near future, and its root cause is that it has not broken through core technologies such as operating systems and chips. "Xiaokang Shares (601127. ZHANG Xinghai, founder and honorary chairman of SH), said: "At present, improving the localization rate of vehicle-grade chips and realizing import substitution has become an important strategic direction of the national industry, and it is time to accelerate the realization of autonomous and controllable vehicle-grade chips. ”

Zhang Xinghai further stressed that the chip industry cannot be achieved overnight in the short term, and the problem of "supply cut- and cut- of automobile chips" is difficult to effectively regulate simply by using market means, and it is necessary to give more play to the advantages of the mainland's institutional mechanism of concentrating on big things.

"The 'chip famine' in 2021 exposes the problem that the automotive-grade chip industry has not achieved independent control." Wang Fengying, president of Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd., pointed out that at present, due to the long research and development cycle, high threshold and low profit of vehicle-grade chips, Chinese chip companies have low willingness to make vehicle-grade chips.

Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC Group, also said that in the past year or so, due to the impact of "lack of cores", the global automobile market has reduced production by more than 10 million vehicles. "At present, the self-sufficiency rate of mainland automobile chips is less than 10%, the contradiction between chip supply shortage and demand surge is prominent, and the soaring price and market chaos have aggravated the survival pressure of enterprises."

A few days ago, some insiders also pointed out to reporters: "Since the middle of 2021, the production capacity of automotive chips, especially high-end automotive chips, has been tight, and prices have risen significantly." The supply chain of car companies in chips and other aspects is facing huge cost pressure, so they have to increase the sales price of automobile terminals. ”

The reporter learned from the above-mentioned industry insiders that at present, the body electronic stability system (ESP) of many domestic car companies is provided by Bosch Group, and the STL9369 produced by STMicroelectronics is the core chip of ESP, and in 2021, the chip will become one of the most scarce products in China.

Rebuild the chip supply system

The shortage of vehicle-grade chips is also accelerating the development and change of the mainland automobile industry chain.

It is understood that while strengthening the supply chain management of chip products, many car companies have also joined the "defense war" of automotive chip localization technology to take the opportunity to rebuild an independent and controllable chip supply system.

SAIC Motor revealed to reporters that at the end of January this year, the group has carried out strategic cooperation with the Shanghai Microtechnology Industry Research Institute, and jointly initiated the establishment of a multi-billion yuan special fund for domestic automotive chips to jointly promote the acceleration of the landing of the vehicle regulation-level "China Core".

In fact, SAIC Motor participated in the B round of financing of Horizon Group, which focuses on the research and development of automotive intelligent chips, in 2019. In addition, SAIC Motor has also participated in the investment of more than ten chip companies such as Shanghai ChipWong Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ChipWong Microelectronics").

SAIC Motor also said that in carrying out the localization of vehicle-grade chips, the company has clarified the localization strategy of large-scale chips and MCU chips, and its subsidiaries have realized or are realizing the localization of vehicle-grade chips.

In September 2021, SAIC-GM-Wuling announced the "strong core" strategy at the brand conference. At that time, the relevant person in charge of SAIC-GM-Wuling told reporters that the company will carry out in-depth cooperation with domestic semiconductor manufacturers, cooperate with parts suppliers and domestic chip manufacturers to develop a new technology architecture and scheme for domestic chips suitable for SAIC-GM-Wuling models, and break through the technical bottleneck of domestic chip adaptability and stability.

On the day of the press conference, SAIC-GM-Wuling also released an MCU chip product - "Wuling Chip". The reporter noted that the model of the product was marked in the lower left corner of the chip - KF32A150MQV. The reporter learned through inquiry that the chip is a KF32A series product produced by Chip Microelectronics.

In addition to SAIC Motor, Geely Holding Group is also vigorously laying out vehicle-grade chips. As early as 2018, Yijiatong Technology and chip supplier Anmou Technology (China) Co., Ltd. jointly funded the establishment of Core Optimus Technology. Tianyan's investigation shows that Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, holds 70% of the equity of Yijiatong Technology and is its actual controller.

According to Wang Kai, "Dragon Eagle One" will achieve mass production in the third quarter of this year. "At present, Core Engine Technology is cooperating with car companies and Tier 1 suppliers to complete the testing and integration in different models to prepare for the mass production of the 'Dragon Eagle One'."

Increase the localization production layout

High-end chips are related to the discourse power of local chip companies. With the continuous improvement of the level of automotive intelligence, the automotive electronic and electrical architecture has been upgraded from a distributed MCU to a central centralized electrical and electronic architecture. In this regard, Wang Fengying said that the vehicle-grade chip will usher in a comprehensive innovation in product quality, functional safety, computing power, control accuracy, interface type and so on.

However, for the current challenges faced by high-end chip research and development, Wang Kai admitted that with the increasing requirements of chip product processes, the investment required is also increasing. Taking the 7nm vehicle specification chip as an example, the design requirements of the product itself are higher, and it needs to meet a number of safety standards such as AEC-Q100 and ISO 26262, and the initial investment is large.

In order to solve the problem of capital investment, Chen Hong suggested that the national ministries and commissions take the lead in setting up special funds. "Shared by the government and enterprises, support the production of vehicle-grade chips, pilot projects and start-ups, and vigorously build large-scale chip manufacturing plants, work together in research, innovation, design and production facilities to build a domestic vehicle-grade chip ecosystem, encourage domestic car companies to participate in the research and development, manufacturing and application of vehicle-grade chips, and promote the proportion of domestic chip applications." Chen Hong said.

At the same time, the research and development of continental vehicle specification chips is also facing the problem of inconsistent technical standards. In Chen Hong's view, through policy guidance, the government should lead the major domestic vehicle enterprises, system integration suppliers, chip manufacturers, etc., in coordination with the national automotive product testing and certification agency, to establish unified technical specifications and standards for China's vehicle-grade chips, encourage the development and application of related technologies for on-board large computing chips and operating systems, and establish a third-party automotive chip testing and certification platform.

Wang Kai also stressed to reporters: "The shortage of high-end talents is also an important challenge facing the mainland chip industry. According to the China Semiconductor Association, The talent gap in Chip Professionals in China will exceed 250,000 in 2022, and by 2025, this gap will expand to 300,000 people.

In this regard, Wang Fengying also suggested that a long-term mechanism for the introduction and training of talents in the vehicle-grade chip industry should be established, and the construction of the semiconductor industry technical talent echelon should be effectively implemented.