In recent years, the shortage of automotive chips has been a haze, which not only seriously restricts the production capacity of the automobile industry, making the delivery of cars delayed, but also leading to car companies having to reduce the allocation of new cars, and some new cars can even be sold for a year before they can reload chips.
United States: Ford sells "coreless cars" and installs chips into after-sales service
In the United States, hundreds of new cars are forced to sit idle in the huge parking lot outside the Ford Motor Plant, unable to be delivered because they are not chip-mounted.
Recently, Ford even announced that it would sell "semi-finished" vehicles that lacked some of its non-safety-critical function chips, and promised to reissue the chips to dealers a year later to help install them on customer cars.
Car companies "lack of core" few new cars have been reduced
There's a saying in the auto industry: "You can't build a car out of 99 percent of the parts." At the moment, however, this common sense is being challenged. Daimler, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle, and Tesla have all publicly stated that because of the "lack of core", it is not guaranteed to provide a complete configuration for new cars. BMW eliminated the touch function of the central information display of many models; GM will temporarily abandon the seat heating function.
Carla Bello, president of an american automotive research center: They said to remove the heated seat function, which is ridiculous for people like me who live in northern Michigan, because we need to use the heated seat function for eight months a year.
Last week, due to chip shortages, global production was reduced by about 96,300 vehicles, of which more than 80% of the production cuts came from the European market and the North American market cut about 14,200 vehicles. So far, global production has been reduced by about 1.25 million vehicles in 2022.
The reasons for the recent "lack of core" have been explored
In the process of car intelligence, the chip is equivalent to the brain of the car, and various controllers in the car are inseparable from the chip. From a few dimes of switches, circuit chips, and then to thousands of yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan of high-end control chips, the number of automotive chips is increasing. Chip shortages have plagued the automotive industry for some time. The situation is not getting better, or even worse. What are the reasons for the recent "lack of core" in cars?
The earthquake in Japan caused a number of chip factories to temporarily stop production
In mid-March, a series of earthquakes struck off the coast of Honshu, Japan, which not only hurt local buildings, but also the global chip market.
Renesas Electronics, the world's third-largest automotive chip maker, has suspended production at three plants in Japan as a result. This has made the already difficult automotive industry worse.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict affects the supply of raw materials for chips
The recent tense situation in Russia and Ukraine has also exacerbated the uncertainty of chip production. The data shows that Ukraine's supply of neon gas accounts for nearly 70% of the world's neon gas, and neon gas is an important raw material needed for chip production.
Automotive analyst Zhang Xiang: Russia and Ukraine are important suppliers of semiconductor gases, and 90% of the neon gas in the US semiconductor industry is sourced from Ukraine. From october last year to now, the price has risen 4 times, greatly increasing the production cost of chips.
Semiconductor companies collectively increased prices
According to foreign media reports, on March 29, European chipmaker STMicroelectronics announced that it will raise prices for all of its product lines in the second quarter of this year. Renesas Electronics, the global leader in automotive chips, raised the price of chips in January this year.
Smart cars become a development trend The demand for chips will increase significantly
Public data shows that a traditional fuel vehicle requires about 300 chips, and now, a traditional fuel vehicle with a high intelligent configuration needs about 500 to 700 chips, and the number of chips required for high-end smart electric vehicles may be as high as more than 2,000. It is expected that by 2030, the proportion of automotive chips in the cost of the vehicle will increase from the previous 4% to 20%.
Increase production capacity and expand cooperation
All parties should solve the "core disease"
In fact, it is not only car companies that lack the pain of "core", but also affected by the epidemic and supply chain, and various industries around the world are suffering from chip shortages. Many countries have to compete to expand the manufacturing capacity of chips.
Semiconductor giants are vying for large-scale expansion and energy expansion
Recently, Samsung announced that it plans to spend $150 billion to expand production capacity. Earlier this year, Intel announced plans to invest $100 billion to build the world's largest chip manufacturing base.
Ajit Manocha, President of the International Semiconductor Industry Association: I've heard more investment announcements in the last two or three years than I've heard in my lifetime.
In February, the European Commission officially announced the European Chip Act, under which the EU will invest more than 45 billion euros to increase Europe's share of the global chip manufacturing market.
Car companies and chip suppliers join hands to expand R&D investment
The response of downstream car companies has also become more and more positive. Mark Reus, president of General Motors, revealed that he plans to develop automotive chips with seven chip companies. South Korea's Hyundai Motor and Samsung Electronics intend to reach a cooperation in the field of automotive chips. Ford Motor Company and GROMFONE have also signed a chip development cooperation agreement.