GM bypasses the supplier and docks the original chip factory
Car chip shortages have skyrocketed for a long time. In the face of core shortages, global car companies have equal rights. Traditional car companies such as GM, Volkswagen, and Toyota have all exposed large-scale core shortages and suspension of production in September. .
In this context, GM seems unable to sit still, hoping to start with the supply chain and change the status quo. Recently, GM CEO Mary Barra said: “We are going to make some quite significant changes to our supply chain. We are already studying the tiered supply basis in more depth, because GM usually does not (directly) buy chips, but Our suppliers buy. But now we are establishing a direct relationship with the manufacturer.”
General Motors, which is “forced” by the lack of cores, publicly announced that it bypasses suppliers and directly establishes direct relationships with chip manufacturers. Will this become the new mainstream for automobile companies in the future? Rare goods are more expensive, and automobile chips are in short supply. , For some dealers, it is a good opportunity to drive up prices. Recently, the General Administration of Market Supervision imposed a penalty of 2.5 million yuan on three dealers who maliciously bid up car chip prices. According to investigations, the three distributors of Shanghai Qiante, Shanghai Chengsheng and Shenzhen Yuchang significantly increased the price of some automotive chips. For example, chips with an purchase price of less than RMB 10 were sold at a high price of more than RMB 400, an increase of 40 times.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously publicly named Japan’s Renesas Electronics and Germany’s Bosch two major automotive chip manufacturers on social media, calling them the biggest problem in Tesla’s supply chain. Musk said that Tesla is operating under the extreme supply chain constraints of certain “standard” automotive chips.
At the same time, Tier1’s life is also difficult. Previously, a number of automotive company executives revealed that affected by the Malaysian epidemic, the current black market price of Bosch ESP (body stabilization system) chips is about 4,000 yuan/piece, while Bosch ESP chips are only 13 yuan/piece under normal supply conditions. In other words, if automakers want to obtain Bosch ESP chips through informal channels, they need to pay a cost that is 300 times more than the regular price. And Bosch recently responded that the chips mentioned in it actually need to be purchased from other suppliers.
Due to the complexity of the supply chain, Tier1 companies and car companies often do not purchase directly from the original chip factory, but purchase through channels such as secondary dealers. In particular, the trend of smart cars and new energy has made semiconductors account for an increasing proportion of the automotive industry. “As customer needs change, we need more and more automotive chips.” General Motors CEO Mary Barra said that the number of chips required for some of GM’s new cars is 30% higher than in the past. The high demand has made some dealers unscrupulously raise prices. Some companies face unreasonable quotations such as secondary dealers because they are faced with compensation for breach of supply. Vicious circle.
Although the country has begun to crack down on the current situation of driving up the price of automotive chips, for related companies, in order to avoid the risk of lack of core prices, it is also necessary to start reforms in the supply chain. In addition to docking with the original factory, self-research is also an option, but some manufacturers that have an early layout in the field of new energy vehicles will start to actively build related cooperative relationships and self-research capabilities relatively early. Therefore, they are affected by the core shortage crisis. Lower impact.
For example, in 2018, SAIC and semiconductor manufacturer Infineon jointly established an automotive IGBT joint venture; in 2019, Dongfeng Group and CRRC jointly established Zhixin Semiconductor to independently develop and manufacture semiconductor power modules to replace imported products; In May 2020, BAIC and Imagination established a joint venture company Core Technology Co., Ltd. to conduct research and development of autonomous driving chips and voice interaction chips. Engine Technology has formulated long-term R&D and mass production plans for smart cockpits, autonomous driving, microcontrollers and other automotive chip fields. In May this year, Geely’s Weirui Electric Vehicles and Xinjuneng Semiconductors established a joint venture Guangdong Xinyueneng Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
Since BYD has already had a layout in the semiconductor field, it is indeed less affected in this core shortage crisis. BYD currently has self-developed and independently produced products such as IGBT, SiC MOS and other power semiconductors, and 32-bit automotive-grade MCUs. It is understood that BYD has installed more than 1 million vehicles with IGBT-based automotive-grade power devices.
While establishing joint ventures or self-developed chips, some car companies and chip manufacturers have teamed up to solve the core shortage crisis. As the only company in China that has achieved mass production of automotive smart chips, Horizon announced at the press conference in July this year that it has cooperated with SAIC, Great Wall Motor, Jiangxi Automobile Group, Ideal, Changan Automobile, BYD, Nezha Automobile and Lantu. The in-depth cooperation plan of many auto companies such as automobiles.
At the same time, according to Yu Kai, the founder and CEO of Horizon, Horizon is positioned at Tier2 and will not do mass production hardware.
The closed solution aims to build an open software and hardware ecosystem with partners. Obviously, now that the intelligentization of automobiles has become the trend of the times, the importance of chips in automobiles is getting higher and higher. In addition to the frequent occurrence of core shortages, car companies may skip Tier1 and build closer to the original chip factory. The connection will be the future trend. At the same time, in this wave of core shortage crisis, the traditional supply chain model may be the most impacted, and the second-tier distributors will bear the brunt.
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