China News Service, Haikou, September 15 (Wang Ziqian and Fu Yuqun) The “core shortage” crisis in the auto industry triggered by the epidemic continues.
At the 2021 World New Energy Automobile Conference held in Haikou on the 15th, at the sub-forum of "Technology Breakthroughs in Automotive Grade Chips and Industrialization Development", the guests discussed the topic of "core-filling" in the automotive industry.
"The'lack of core' appears to be a temporary problem caused by the epidemic, which deeply exposes the problem of chip production capacity layout." Yang Yuxin, chief marketing officer of Black Sesame Intelligent Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. pointed out that the market's "lack of cores" is reflected in many aspects. It is the increasing demand for the number of chips; the second is the increase in the requirements for chip performance; the third is that with the changes in the electronic and electrical architecture of electric vehicles, it is necessary to integrate chip functions to follow the development of the central computing platform.
The third-generation semiconductors represented by silicon carbide provide more room for further improvement of chip performance.
Cao Yanfei, senior vice president of Infineon Technology Greater China and head of the automotive electronics business unit, said that the “lack of cores” has prompted more companies to increase silicon carbide as a raw material to make chips.
In addition, in the cutting process of silicon carbide chips, companies have upgraded from traditional cutting to cold cutting, which has more than doubled the output.
Vincent CRUVELLIER, general manager of the China region of Silicon Power (Shanghai) Technology Consulting Co., Ltd., also believes that because silicon carbide chips can significantly reduce the energy consumption of electronic equipment, more chip manufacturers will choose to use them.
He suggested that the industry should increase investment to improve chip performance and increase loss control.
In sharp contrast with the huge market demand, China's chip manufacturing is a "stuck neck" problem.
Yuan Chengyin, general manager of China's National New Energy Vehicle Technology Innovation Center, analyzed that China's automotive electronics industry is insufficiently competitive. "my country's automotive product imports account for 90% of the country's automotive products, and key system chips such as advanced sensors and in-vehicle networks are all monopolized by foreign countries."
However, Yuan Chengyin also believes that the current environmental adaptability requirements of new energy smart cars for chips have been reduced, and industry barriers have been weakened. China's chip design can seize opportunities.
He predicted that the average cost of a bicycle car chip will increase from US$400/vehicle in 2019 to US$600/vehicle in 2022, and the size of the Chinese automotive chip market will reach US$15 billion.
Yang Yuxin has discovered that after the "chip shortage", the relationship between car companies and chip companies is changing. "Communications with car companies have become closer. Some car companies are considering direct acquisition of chips." He said that domestic car companies are currently engaged in autonomous driving, There are innovations in intelligent architectures such as intelligent human-computer interaction. Whether chip companies can continuously improve product performance to meet user demand for products will be the key to development.
According to market forecasts, based on factors such as the effective control of the epidemic and the expansion of production capacity by enterprises, the problem of chip shortages may be alleviated in the middle of next year.
Yuan Chengyin said that Chinese chip companies must pay close attention to the "window period" of development, not only paying attention to traditional positive development, but also paying attention to market pain points and scene needs.
Automobile companies also need to collaborate with the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to achieve linkage development with chip companies.
Wang Kai, Chief Technology Officer of Ideal Motors, told reporters that Ideal is building a "circle of friends for longevity" including domestic chips and uses domestic chips in its products.
He believes that with the arrival of the era of smart cars, the rise of China's new energy vehicles will run through the entire industrial chain, and the chip industry will gradually make up for its shortcomings.
(over)