On 3 August, a reporter from the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" learned from the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration that in view of such outstanding problems as hype and high prices in the automotive chip market, recently, according to price monitoring and reporting clues, the General Administration of Market Supervision has filed an investigation into the automotive chip distribution enterprises suspected of inflating prices.
It is reported that in the next step, the General Administration of Market Supervision will continue to pay attention to the price order of chips and other important commodity markets, further strengthen supervision and law enforcement, and strictly investigate and deal with illegal acts such as hoarding, driving up prices, and colluding to raise prices.
After the news was released, three stocks, including Zhaoyi Innovation, Lionwei and Xin Jieneng, fell by the daily limit, while those of Yang Jie Technology, Beijing Junzheng, Broadcom Integration and Quanzhi Technology fell more than 5%.
Car chip "exorbitant price"?
Since the beginning of this year, affected by the shortage of chips, many car companies have cut production or stopped production one after another. At present, the lack of core in China's automobile industry is still continuing.
Some media quoted feedback from a number of car companies that the prices of various types of chips have generally increased by 5 to 20 times. In spite of this, it is still "hard to find one core".
On June 19, at the 2021 China Automobile Forum, Ye Shengji, chief engineer and deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said, "due to the current lack of supply of automotive chips, recovery cycle and other information is not clear." chip distributors are hoarding goods and asking exorbitant prices on the market. At the same time, enterprises also choose to hoard a large number of goods and increase chip inventory to resist future risks, further aggravating the current chip shortage predicament. "
In addition, Ye Shengji disclosed a set of data: "at present, among all kinds of chips in China, MCU (micro-control units) chips are the most scarce, and domestic MCU chip enterprises are the weakest." So far, the self-sufficiency rate of semiconductors in China is 15%, of which the self-sufficiency rate of automotive chips is less than 5%. "
Everbright Securities research shows that throughout the whole field of automotive electronic chips, MCU is mainly used in the core aspects of safety and driving, automatic driving (auxiliary) system control, central control system display and operation, engine, chassis and body control, etc., with a wide range of applications. MCU accounts for about 30% of all semiconductor devices equipped in a car. A traditional car needs more than 70 MCU chips, and the demand for smart cars is even more than 300.
"the biggest shortage in the automotive industry right now is the MCU chip. As long as the lack of a (chip), it will affect the production of the whole vehicle. " Some people in the industry analyzed and said to the reporter of Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily.
How to deal with the "lack of core"?
On March 24 this year, Xin Guobin, a party member and vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, presided over a seminar on the supply of automotive chips and pointed out that automotive chips are important devices related to the core competitiveness of the industry and the key foundation for building an automotive power. We need overall development and security, adhere to the combination of near and far, systematic promotion, raise the level of the whole industry chain, and effectively support the high-quality development of the automotive and semiconductor industries.
On July 16, the State Information Office held a press conference. Huang Libin, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and director of the Operation Monitoring and Coordination Bureau, said that he will cooperate with relevant departments to ensure the supply and stability of commodities, strengthen publicity and guidance and policy interpretation, support the upstream and downstream industries to establish a long-term and stable cooperative relationship, guide the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to stabilize the supply of raw materials and the supporting cooperation of production, supply and marketing, and coordinate to deal with the risk of market price fluctuations. It is necessary to resolutely crack down on hoarding, malicious speculation, and driving up prices.
At present, the impact of chip shortage has spread from the upper reaches of the automobile industry chain to the sales end.
According to CAM automotive consulting information, "as the intelligent network connection is still in the rising stage, the impact of high-end chips is relatively small, but the phenomenon that the supply of middle and low-end MCU falls short of demand, resulting in a shortage of two core modules of on-board computer, ESP and ECU." And car companies are also constantly reducing production, terminal concessions are also showing a shrinking trend. "
At the same time, the localization of automotive chips is facing many problems. "the difficulty of vehicle specification-level certification and the compatibility with the development architecture of the whole vehicle factory all need to be overcome. At the same time, the automotive chip customer certification cycle is long, high reliability requirements, in the capital, talent and other aspects need more long-term investment. " The above-mentioned industry insiders analyzed and said to the reporter of Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily.
"the short-term shortage of chips under the influence of the epidemic and other factors has exposed China's deficiencies in the reserve of key core technologies and the control of the supply chain." Ye Shengji, chief engineer and deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said, "these problems and difficulties need to be dealt with jointly by vehicle and spare parts enterprises, including relevant scientific research institutes and colleges and universities."
According to the judgment of Sinochem, the lack of core in the automobile industry is likely to be alleviated gradually after the second half of 2021.
![[SMM Analysis] Stainless Steel Social Inventory Saw a Slight Buildup, While High Supply Coupled with Cautious Downstream Demand Constrained Destocking](https://imgqn.smm.cn/usercenter/bFzkj20251217171724.jpg)
