“It’s been like this for 4 months”… Vehicle semiconductor supply and demand difficulties’helpless’

[뉴스토마토 박한나 기자] As the semiconductor shortage for vehicles has entered the fourth month, the sense of crisis of production disruption among domestic automakers is heightening. It is pointed out that there is no short-term solution because Taiwan’s TSMC has the technology, which is the cause of the supply and demand uncertainty of the core automotive semiconductor’MCU (Micro Controller Unit)’.

According to the automobile industry on the 7th, Hyundai Motor and Kia secured three months’ worth of inventory in November of last year, but as the supply and demand for automotive semiconductors prolonged, it took an emergency to secure inventory. Although there is no plan to cut production yet, it is known that the production line is operating mainly on models in stock.

From the 8th of last month, GM Korea has been operating only 50% of its Bupyeong 2 plant, which produces Chevrolet and Malibu. The production cuts for the Bupyeong 2 plant, originally planned for mid-month, will continue for a while as the global automotive semiconductor supply shortages worsen.

The aftermath of the supply shortage of automotive semiconductors is not a problem only for domestic automakers. It is hitting the global automotive industry. GM extended production cuts at three plants in Kansas, Canada, Ontario, and San Luis Potosi, Mexico, until next month. Tesla also temporarily suspended production from the end of last month due to a shortage of semiconductors.

Stellaantis did not reveal the exact scale, but in its recent earnings release, it predicted that the supply shortage of semiconductors for vehicles would have a major impact on this year’s earnings. Ford predicted that vehicle production in the first quarter of this year will decline by up to 20% from the same period last year due to a shortage of semiconductor supplies.

The problem is that there is no short-term solution. The current semiconductor for vehicles with unstable supply and demand is MCU. MCU is a core automotive semiconductor that functions to control the vehicle, but automakers are importing it from overseas companies. It is explained that there are no domestic companies with MCU production technology.

An automobile industry official said, “Automotive companies do not have the technology to produce MCUs,” and said, “How will a company that makes automobiles become a company that makes semiconductors?” He added, “Even if we want to solve the problem, we have no choice but to wait for the semiconductor companies to solve the supply problem.”

However, domestic semiconductor companies possessing all kinds of semiconductor technologies are struggling with the production of semiconductors for vehicles. This is because semiconductors used in home appliances and semiconductors for vehicles have different processes and manufacturing methods, and are already busy producing semiconductors for home appliances.

Moreover, it is argued that MCUs require different technology than the home appliance semiconductors produced by domestic companies, but their profitability is low, so it is inevitable to be passive in production. Automotive semiconductors have to meet much higher durability requirements than semiconductors for IT devices and home appliances, but they have no willingness to do business because they are not profitable.

“It is a difficult problem to solve in the short term,” said Ahn Ki-hyun, executive director of the Semiconductor Industry Association. “He said.

As a result, automakers around the world are looking only at TSMC. The MCU is a structure in which automakers place orders from semiconductor companies such as NXP in the Netherlands, Infineon in Germany, and Renesas in Japan, and they are commissioned to produce MCUs at TSMC in Taiwan. Even overseas semiconductor companies are not producing MCUs themselves, but rather supplying them from TSMC to automakers.

Although the government has decided to urgently support international cooperation, simplified import procedures, and a 24-hour customs clearance system as a short-term measure, criticism has emerged as a short-term measure. It is said that even domestic imports can be made only if the supply of TSMC in Taiwan is increased. It is predicted that domestic automakers will be hit from the second quarter of this year right away.

Reporter Park Han-na [email protected]

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