[초점]The real reason for the lack of semiconductor chips for automobiles in the world? ‘Lack of supply and high performance of automobiles’

Automakers around the world are disrupting vehicle production due to the lack of semiconductor chips.

This year, Japanese car makers such as Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and Subaru, as well as European and American companies such as Ford and GM of the US and Volkswagen of Germany, are also reducing plant operations due to a shortage of semiconductor chips for automobiles. Even the governments of major automakers, such as Germany, the United States, and Japan, requested an increase in production of automotive semiconductor chips to the Taiwanese Ministry of Economy. Why is there a shortage of automotive semiconductors?

According to Japanese JB Press reports, German Infineon ranks first in the world in terms of sales in the automotive semiconductor market, NXP Semiconductors of the Netherlands ranks second and Renesas of Japan ranks third.

These three companies have their own semiconductor factories, but in terms of manufacturing process technology, they are inferior to global semiconductor makers. High-tech semiconductors after 28 nanometers (one nanometer is one billionth of a meter) are entrusted to a foundry for production. Taiwan’s TSMC, which is raising process technology to 3 nanometers, is the main outsourcing manufacturer, and lower technology is entrusted to Taiwan’s UMC.

The problem is that there is little production of semiconductors for automobiles. In TSMC, semiconductors for smartphones account for 50% of the total chips shipped. Next, HPC (High Performance Computing), such as high-performance PC processors and high-performance server processors, account for 30-40%.

TSMC’s vehicle semiconductor ratio is very low. From the third quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of last year, it remained at only 4%. Due to Corona 19, it halved to 2% in the third quarter of 2020 and recovered to 3% in the fourth quarter.

Why did this happen? As the auto industry was hit by the spread of Corona 19, orders for auto parts were canceled one after another. The same goes for semiconductors. As the factory was closed, production stopped, and parts orders had to be stopped to get out of business difficulties. Even the existing order was canceled. The automobile industry canceled orders to foundry companies such as TSMC, and technology companies took the place.

The high performance of automotive semiconductor chips also instigates a supply shortage. TSMC began mass production of 7-nano semiconductors in the third quarter of 2018, and 5 nano-level mass production last year. In the fourth quarter of last year, the proportion of shipments taken up by 5-nano semiconductors reached 20% of the total.

Samsung, which is pursuing’Vision 2030′ with the goal of catching up with TSMC, cannot also keep up with TSMC in technology.

TSMC is full of huge customers such as Apple, Qualcomm, Broadcom, AMD, Nvidia, Xilinx, MediaTek, Google, Tesla, and Amazon. They are taking all the high-tech production chips. In addition, automotive semiconductor makers Infineon, NXP, and Renesas were added.

High-performance automobiles such as autonomous driving are also considered one of the reasons for the shortage of semiconductor supply. Currently, the SEC automotive industry is facing a revolutionary period of’Connected, Autonomous Driving, Sharing, Electrification’. State-of-the-art 5G communication semiconductors are required, and autonomous driving includes semiconductors with artificial intelligence (AI) functions. It is not a car that uses old logic or analog semiconductors.

As the demand for chips applied with advanced technology increases, the supply is bound to be insufficient. There is concern that the supply shortage of semiconductor chips in the automotive industry will continue for a considerable period of time.

The fact that many car makers in Japan, the United States, and Europe are suffering from a shortage of semiconductor supply means that there is a shortage of automotive semiconductors produced by TSMC or UMC. The governments of the automobile industry have requested Taiwan to increase production, but the outlook is dark.

TSMC said in an interview with Japanese economic media Nihon Geizai on the 29th of last month, “Reducing the impact on the automobile industry is a priority.” I will review it.”

However, this is only temporary first aid and is not a fundamental remedy. In order to solve the shortage of semiconductors, there is no choice but to create a new production line. Therefore, it is expected that it will take at least half a year for the shortage of automotive semiconductors to be resolved in the future.

Pessimists fear that it is more than a year. UMC also said, “We cannot prioritize vehicle supply. We manufacture according to the order received.”

Global Economic Reporter Min-Sung Cho [email protected]