According to Taiwan's Electronic Times today, citing industry sources, a number of chip manufacturers have set MCU production expansion targets to meet downstream demand growth.
Among them, Renesa Electronics plans to increase automotive MCU production by 50% by the end of 2030; Infineon has announced that it will increase expenditure by 50% next year, that is, investing 2.4 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in production expansion; and contract manufacturing leader TSMC also said earlier that it plans to increase automotive MCU production by 60% this year.
In addition to manufacturers taking the initiative to expand production, the objective environment has also taken a turn for the better. On the 10th, Malaysia, a major manufacturer of automotive chips, announced that the interstate travel ban had been lifted, and local semiconductor production capacity gradually began to climb. According to a Morgan Stanley survey of Malaysian fab equipment manufacturers, average capacity utilisation reached 89 per cent at the end of September, up from 51 per cent at the end of August.
Driven by two major factors, the shackles of automotive chips are gradually released. According to the Financial Associated Press today, some industry insiders have revealed that the price of automotive chips has declined significantly since September, and some chip middlemen have begun to sell. The total shortage of automotive chips has turned into a partial shortage, and it can be said that the shortage that has lasted for more than a year is about to become a thing of the past. "
However, the China Automobile Association mentioned a few days ago that there is a certain guarantee for the purchase of Q4 chips, but there is still a shortage of supply. TSMC also said at the legal conference that the shortage of automotive chips has been alleviated and it will take several quarters to transmit to the OEM plant.
The main engine factory has gradually resumed production.
The "four modernizations" trend of the automobile industry has led to the reshaping of the product value chain-- internal combustion engine-related systems and components continue to shrink, while the introduction of three electricity (battery, electric drive, electric control) has rapidly pushed up the silicon content of the car. The latter accounts for 50% of the vehicle cost, and the total semiconductor value of pure electric vehicles is expected to increase by more than 70% compared with traditional cars.
Previously, due to the continuing shortage of automotive chips, Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW and other car companies have expressed pessimism about the production and sales prospects in the coming months or even years. In addition, the lack of core also led to GM, Volkswagen, Nissan, Tesla and others have announced that they will reduce the production of some models in the next few years.
Look at the domestic, Great Wall Motor, Changan Motor are subject to lack of core and choose to extend the delivery time. Among the "new forces of car building", ideal is the one most affected. On the 8th, the company released "ideal ONE delivery Plan Communication", saying that due to the lack of core, the model will install two fewer radars and be reinstalled before the Spring Festival; its September delivery volume was 7094, a month-on-month drop of 2408%. The official explanation said that due to the epidemic in Malaysia, the production of special chips for millimeter wave radar suppliers was "seriously hindered".
Now, with the situation of core shortage gradually alleviating, the aforesaid report of the Financial Associated Press pointed out that some domestic mainframe factories have resumed the production of suspended shifts 2 or even 3. However, Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the bus Federation, believes that it is still difficult to completely alleviate the shortage of goods in the short-term industrial chain, and it is expected that the impact of core shortage can only be completely lifted after the Spring Festival sales peak next year.
