Avoiding the risk of "stuck neck" and improving the self-sufficiency of automotive chips is of urgency

　　It is imperative to

　　 improve the

self-sufficiency of automotive chips

　　 Yang Zhongyang

　　Affected by the insufficient supply of chips, it is rumored that Volkswagen in the north and south has recently been suspended.

Although Volkswagen Group (China) has publicly explained that this is only a short-term supply shortage, the situation is not as serious as the rumors, and it has coordinated with the headquarters and related suppliers, but this has not completely dispelled the public's doubts.

　　Specifically, the current chip shortage is mainly divided into two categories, one is the MCU (Micro Control Unit) used in ESP (Electronic Stability Control System).

In the Chinese market, generally models over 100,000 yuan, especially mid-to-high-end models, will be equipped with ESP.

It is a part of the car's active safety system and can prevent sideslip.

The other is the MCU in the ECU (Electronic Control Module).

ECU is widely used in various control systems of automobiles and is called "driving computer".

　　According to reports, the risk of chip supply cut-off also affects other joint venture car companies.

Although the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers also stated that the short-term imbalance between supply and demand will gradually ease over time and will not have a major impact on the auto industry.

However, the lack of chips has caused some companies to stop production. This is the first time in the automotive industry. I think it is necessary to pay enough attention.

　　As the brain of the car, the importance of the chip is self-evident.

Previously, people were only worried about the supply of chips from autonomous car companies.

Under the effective control of the domestic epidemic situation and the normal production of enterprises, joint venture car companies have also experienced chip supply crisis, which is somewhat beyond everyone's imagination.

　　Many analysts believe that the reason for the shortage of automotive chips is that due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, large-scale wafer factories and packaging and testing plants overseas have announced the suspension of production, coupled with the strike of STMicroelectronics workers, making supply capacity insufficient .

At the same time, the recovery of China's auto market has exceeded expectations, which has further promoted the growth of chip demand, causing some auto production to face the risk of interruption.

　　In addition, driven by the development of 5G technology, the demand for chips in the consumer electronics field is increasing rapidly this year, and chip production has encountered challenges, which has seized the production of some automotive chips.

Therefore, the industry ridicule of "the mobile phone industry is fighting, the automobile industry suffers".

　　It should be said that these analyses make sense.

But from a deeper level, it is also that my country's automotive chip supply chain is too dependent on overseas markets, and the key core technology of chips is "hollowed", so that the self-sufficiency of chips is seriously insufficient.

　　According to data from the China Automotive Chip Industry Innovation Strategic Alliance, my country’s autonomous automotive chip industry in 2019 only accounted for 4.5% of the world’s total, while my country’s automotive chip import rate exceeded 90%. Advanced sensors, vehicle networks, three-electric systems, and chassis electronic control , ADAS (advanced driver assistance system), automatic driving and other key system chips are over-reliant on imports.

For example, the value of IGBTs (insulated gate bipolar transistors) in electric vehicles is second only to power batteries. More than 98% of them need to be imported from abroad, and the price is 1.2 to 1.8 times that of foreign countries.

Infineon, Renesas, ON Semiconductor, Fairchild, Toshiba and other foreign companies control over 80% of the global IGBT market.

　　As cars become more intelligent and networked, the usage of chips is also increasing sharply, and the importance of chips becomes more prominent.

Under the new development pattern, how to rely on science and technology to become self-reliant, speed up the improvement of auto chip self-sufficiency, and avoid the risk of "stuck neck" is an urgent issue.