The automobile "lack of core" has become a "bottleneck" problem in the global automobile supply chain.

From June, 5438 to February, 2020, due to the shortage of 8-inch wafers (a kind of automobile chips) on which automobile semiconductors are most dependent, Volkswagen was reported to cut production and stop work. Subsequently, Toyota, Ford, Fiat and other car companies successively announced the reduction of automobile production, and some models of domestic joint venture car companies were also affected by chip problems.

For a time, as a large-scale mobile intelligent terminal that is more important than mobile phones in the future, the "stuck neck" problem of automobile chips is more serious and important than mobile phones.

0 1 car company "lack of core"

Entering 202 1, the crisis of insufficient automobile chips is more serious. Many domestic automobile brands are in short supply of chips, so they were forced to reduce their production capacity in the first quarter, with a total output of about 500 thousand vehicles. But it is not China that lacks the core in the automobile industry, but the whole world, including several automobile companies mentioned at the beginning of the article.

An international daily newspaper commented on June 5438+1October 65438+March this year that Toyota restarted a production line in Guangzhou, China that month, which was shut down for two days due to chip shortage. The production line was originally planned to stop production for 4 days, but Toyota got the chip supply in advance.

At the same time, Toyota also revealed that due to insufficient supply of chips, the company is reducing the Tundra production of a factory in Texas, USA.

Ford Motor Company and Nissan Motor Company also confirmed that they are cutting car production in American and Japanese factories due to the shortage of car chips. Ford Motor Company has ordered a factory in Germany to stop production for one month.

Audi officials also said that more than 65,438+0,000 employees have suspended their work due to the shortage of automobile chips.

In addition, Samsung Electronics recently said that the impact of the shortage of automotive chips may also affect the smart phone industry.

All these phenomena show that the global shortage of computer chips is bringing more and more pressure to automobile manufacturers, and the "lack of core" of automobiles has become a "bottleneck" problem in the global automobile supply chain.

The important role of 02 automotive chips

With the acceleration of automobile electronization and the accelerated growth of automobile semiconductors, the importance of chips for automobile enterprises has become increasingly prominent. The chip plays an irreplaceable role in multimedia entertainment system, engine and gearbox control system, airbag, driver assistance system, air conditioning system and so on.

The traditional function chip of automobile is only suitable for local functions such as engine control and battery management, and cannot meet the modern intelligent driving related operations with high data volume. Intelligent driving involves human-computer interaction, visual processing and intelligent decision-making. AI algorithm and chip are the core. According to NXP's statistics, a high-end car has been equipped with more than 65438+ billion lines of code, far exceeding airplanes, mobile phones, internet software and so on. In the future, with the improvement of the popularity and level of autonomous driving, the number of code lines carried by cars will increase exponentially.

At present, an ordinary car should be equipped with at least 40 kinds of chips, while high-end models need more than 150 kinds. According to the classification, automobile chips can be roughly divided into three categories: the first category is responsible for computing power, that is, processor and controller chips, such as central control, ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) and automatic driving system, as well as engine, chassis and body control; The second is responsible for power conversion, which is used for power supply and interface; The third category is sensors, which are mainly used for various radars, airbags and tire pressure detection. With the development of ADAS, autonomous driving and other technologies, a lot of image data and radar data processing are needed, and the requirements of automobile manufacturers for chip computing power are getting higher and higher.

The shortage of automobile chips is mainly concentrated in high-end application modules such as ESP (Electronic Stability Program System), ECU (Electronic Control Unit) and ECO (Intelligent Engine Control System). Without them, the driving computer can't be loaded and used normally.

The main reasons of "lack of core" in automobile enterprises

In my opinion, there are three main reasons that affect the problem of "lack of core" in automobile under the background of supply chain globalization.

The culprit, the COVID-19 epidemic. When it comes to supply chain problems, the first thing people think of is the imbalance between supply and demand. In 2020, the event that has the greatest impact on global supply and demand is the "COVID-19 epidemic". At present, in the field of automotive chips, NXP, Renesas Electronics, Infineon, stmicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and other traditional automotive chip manufacturers have long occupied half of the global automotive chip market. Affected by the epidemic, upstream chip companies stopped production one after another, stmicroelectronics went on strike, and Southeast Asian chip assembly plants stopped working, resulting in a serious shortage of semiconductors in the global market. In addition, after the factory resumed work, the government introduced an economic stimulus plan, and after commuters avoided taking public transport, car sales rebounded stronger than expected. Chip suppliers and car companies were conservative in their expectations of car demand in the second half of 2020, resulting in insufficient inventory of car chips.

Sino-US trade war continues to ferment. In June 5438+February last year, the US government listed SMIC on the "entity list", prompting customers to look around for alternative products. Some semiconductor buyers are also accumulating inventories to hedge against future shortages or interruptions, which further limits the global supply of chips.

There are problems in the development of automobile chips. In recent years, due to the rise of high-tech products such as smart phones, smart TVs and notebook computers, semiconductor manufacturers prefer these electronic products with faster profit recovery, while car companies are "not so important" to chip manufacturers. To give a simple example, the annual order in the light smart phone market exceeds 654.38+billion units, while the order for automobiles is less than 654.38+billion units. Where there is great demand, there is supply.