There was an emergency, as global automakers began to temporarily suspend production one after another due to a disruption in the supply and demand of automotive semiconductors.
Although domestic automakers are not yet experiencing a shortage of semiconductor supply for vehicles, they are preparing for a prolonged delay in semiconductor supply and demand.
According to industry sources on the 22nd, Ford recently closed its Louisville, Kentucky sports utility vehicle (SUV) plant, and decided to suspend operation of its Saarlouis plant in Germany until the 19th of next month.
The Volkswagen Group predicted that production in the first quarter of China, North America and Europe would be disrupted by about 100,000 units due to a shortage of semiconductors, and Audi in the group announced that it would postpone production of high-end models in January and leave 10,000 employees.
Chrysler also temporarily suspended operations at its Ontario plant in Canada and delayed the restart of its Jeep-producing Mexican plant. Japanese companies, such as Toyota and Nissan, announced plans to temporarily cut production as a result of the fire of semiconductor companies.
This is because demand for automobiles declined due to a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) in the first half of last year, and semiconductor companies reduced the production of semiconductors for vehicles and focused on production of information technology (IT) products such as PCs and smartphones.
In the second half of the year, as demand for finished cars recovered faster than expected, automakers were accumulating inventory and increasing production, but the shortage of production facilities such as foundries (consignment production of semiconductors) intensified, and a temporary supply-demand mismatch occurred as the production of semiconductors for vehicles could not be rapidly increased. .
Song Seon-jae, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, said, “From the perspective of semiconductor companies, there was little incentive to increase the supply of semiconductors for vehicles, which are relatively low margins, so they were forced to be subordinated to the supply plan.” There is also a prospect that there is,” he said.
However, it is said that major domestic automakers and auto parts manufacturers are not suffering from supply shortages to the point of causing problems in production.
It is known that Hyundai Motor Company and Kia have secured automotive semiconductor inventory for 1 to 2 months. Although it is not at the level that is a problem for vehicle production at the moment, it seems that the situation is being watched closely in preparation for the prolonged shortage of semiconductors.
GM Korea is also in normal operation now, but it is reported that GM headquarters is making efforts to secure supply lines from various angles, such as contacting Taiwan at the level of the GM headquarters in fear of prolonged situation.
In general, one car is equipped with hundreds of automotive semiconductors, including a microcontroller unit (MCU).
In particular, as automobiles are becoming more environmentally friendly and electronically installed, the proportion of electronic systems is being adopted, increasing the demand for semiconductors per vehicle.
The shortage of automotive semiconductors can lead to short-term cost increases and production disruption. A 10% increase in automotive semiconductor prices would increase the production cost of automobiles by about 0.18% and reduce operating profit by about 1%.
Researcher Song Seon-jae said, “The price of automotive semiconductors is bound to rise due to the continuous increase in demand and supply-demand imbalance, and this will inevitably act as a factor in increasing the cost of automobile companies.”
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