Ministry of Economy, Taiwan and Ministry of Industry sent a letter
Partial increase in supply to domestic parts makers is expected through Infineon and NXP
Predicting “Severe discrepancy in supply and demand for automotive semiconductors will ease supply shortages at the end of the year”
[세종=아시아경제 권해영 기자, 주상돈 기자] The government recently received a letter from the Taiwanese authorities stating that its own semiconductor company, TSMC, has started increasing production of semiconductors for vehicles and that its supply will increase to countries including Korea. This is because the government requested the Taiwanese government to expand production when the automobile industry was in an emergency due to the lack of automotive semiconductors. The supply shortage may be partially mitigated with the cooperation of the Taiwanese government, but it is unlikely to be resolved in a short period of time due to the serious inconsistency in the supply and demand of semiconductors for global vehicles.
According to the automobile industry and related ministries on the 5th, the Ministry of Economy and Trade of Taiwan recently issued a letter to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, stating that TSMC is increasing its production of semiconductors for vehicles, and that the amount of supplies supplied to global countries such as Korea will increase through semiconductor companies that have ordered consignment production. Shipped.
As the supply shortage of automotive semiconductors around the world became severe, the government and the domestic automobile industry jointly requested the Taiwanese government and companies to expand production.
TSMC holds the key to resolving the supply and demand for automotive semiconductors. This is because it accounts for 70% of the total global production of MCUs, the’brain’ that controls automotive electronic systems. Comprehensive semiconductor companies such as Infineon, NXP, and Renesas, which are the top three in the automotive semiconductor market, consign most of their products to TSMC, a foundry (consigned semiconductor production) company. .
This is largely due to the failure to forecast demand. The automobile industry saw that the demand for finished cars would drop sharply last year due to Corona 19, and reduced orders for semiconductors, but unexpectedly, new car orders at the end of the year poured in, resulting in a situation where semiconductor stocks were insufficient. Meanwhile, as semiconductor companies focused on high-margin products such as smartphones, PCs, and server semiconductors, the scarcity of semiconductors for vehicles spread. In addition, Infineon and NXP shut down their factories due to a cold wave in Texas, USA, and Renesas stopped operating factories in Japan due to an earthquake, followed by a fire at TSMC in Taiwan.
A government official said, “As TSMC increases the production of semiconductors for vehicles, it is expected that Infineon and NXP will be able to expand the supply of semiconductors to domestic auto parts companies.” “We plan to minimize the damage of the people.”
It is reported that TSMC is increasing the number of MCUs by re-adjusting the 55-nanometer (nm·1 billionth of a meter) production line currently used in general home appliances to a semiconductor production line for vehicles. It took at least six months to expand the production line, and some production lines are being converted.
The government and the auto industry believe that it will be difficult to alleviate the supply and demand for automotive semiconductors in a short period of time. The Ministry of Industry predicted that the supply and demand for automotive semiconductors will continue to disrupt until at least the third quarter. The market outlook is even more negative. It is observed that supply will increase in July, supply shortages will ease at the end of the year, and supply and demand will improve smoothly after at least one or two years.
Above all, if the MCU stocks secured by Hyundai Motor Group’s primary partners, such as Hyundai Mobis, are exhausted from next month, the damage to the finished car industry is expected to increase. The government predicted that the effects of unstable supply and demand for automotive semiconductors will be reflected from exports this month.
Dong-min Moon, head of the Trade and Investment Department of the Ministry of Industry, said, “Up to now (the lack of semiconductors for vehicles) has not been shown to have a significant impact on exports of finished vehicles,” he said. “From April exports, some of the effects of the disruption in supply and demand for vehicle semiconductors are concerned.”
Reporter Kwon Hae-young [email protected]
Reporter Joo Sang-don [email protected]