The localization rate of Chinese car companies’ chips is only 5%. -CPU processor, automobile, electric vehicle–Fast Technology (the media of Drive Home)–Technology changes the future

China’s automobile production and sales volume has been ranked first in the world for 13 consecutive years. However, the continuous lack of cores has exposed the problem of “big but not strong” in China’s auto industry, including new energy. The shortage of chip production capacity and weak self-research capabilities have become more and more restrictive to the development of new energy vehicles in China.

At the 2022 China Electric Vehicle Hundred People’s Meeting held recently, Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and former minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, criticized domestic car companies, “chips and operating systems are our shortcomings and weaknesses, ‘lack of core and little soul’, Even more so at the car level.

In the past, car factories basically ignored these things and handed them over to first-tier suppliers to do them. Foreign car factories have begun to invest in TSMC for production capacity, and our car factories will only be there to shout. “

In terms of development and problems, he commented that China’s new energy vehicles “played well in the first half, but the second half decided the outcome.” In other words, China’s new energy vehicles can take the lead in development, but if If the problem of “being controlled by others” cannot be solved, future development will be limited.

The localization rate of chips is only 5%, and it is highly dependent on foreign countries

During the two sessions in 2022, Zeng Qinghong, deputy to the National People’s Congress, secretary of the party committee and chairman of Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd., put forward suggestions on accelerating the development of my country’s automotive chip industry chain. Behind this suggestion, the contradiction between the shortage of chip supply and the surge in demand is prominent. The skyrocketing price and market chaos have intensified the survival pressure of auto companies.

Zeng Qinghong mentioned that my country’s automobile industry is in a critical period of strategic transformation. As the cornerstone of the development of automobile intelligence and electrification, chips play a vital role in the survival and development of the automobile industry. The conversion rate is only 5%, and the supply is highly dependent on foreign countries.

The automotive electronics industry chain includes automotive semiconductor chip and component manufacturers, component integrators, and vehicle manufacturers. Among them, chip and component manufacturers are in the upstream of the industry chain, component manufacturers are in the midstream, and vehicle manufacturers are in the downstream. Relying on the supply of chips, especially with the advancement of electrification and intelligence, the intelligent experience of cars must be realized through chips.

According to data from the China Automotive Chip Industry Innovation Strategic Alliance, in 2019, the global automotive chip market size was about 47.5 billion US dollars, of which China’s independent automotive chip industry was less than 15 billion yuan, accounting for about 4.5% of the world’s total. According to data from market research firm IC Insights, the chip self-sufficiency rate of Chinese automobiles will still be less than 5% in 2021.

According to the Strategy Analytics report, the top five automotive semiconductor suppliers by market share – Infineon, NXP, Renesas, Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics – together account for nearly 49% of the global automotive semiconductor market in 2020. If you count Bosch, ON Semiconductor and Microchip, the ratio will exceed 60%.

A person in the chip industry who did not want to be named bluntly said, “We do too many edge chips, and the core chips are all in the hands of foreigners.” After this, there will be a shortage of core chips for Chinese auto companies at any time, especially now that the epidemic is affected. .

In August 2021, a semiconductor chip supplier’s Muar factory in Malaysia was closed again due to a new outbreak. After two shutdowns and shutdowns, the factory was basically in a shutdown state in August, and the production of Bosch ESP/IPB, VCU, TCU and other chips was directly affected.

After the incident, He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, complained on his personal social media, “It’s more difficult to pull the core and cut off the supply, and the toast sales (should be ‘elimination’) are more worrying.” Under the influence of the lack of cores, Xiaopeng Motors suffered There is also the loss of real money.

In October 2021, the Xiaopeng P5 began to be delivered, but before delivery, due to the shortage of lidar chips, Xiaopeng Motors had to deliver the Xiaopeng P5 without the chip (it will be re-installed in the future), and provided a variety of products to the affected car owners. compensate.

“Chip is a very big challenge, because NIO uses more than 1,000 chips for each car, and 10% of them have a shortage of supply. NIO has to buy some chips from the spot market, and NIO loses some gross profit. Price. Secondly, it is mainly due to concerns about the instability of the supply chain.” At the performance meeting in the fourth quarter of 2021, Li Bin, chairman of Weilai, said bluntly that the lack of cores has affected Weilai’s gross profit.

The main problem of NIO’s lack of cores lies in some basic chips, such as some cheaper chips such as Infineon. Not only the new car-making forces, but also traditional car companies are suffering from a lack of cores. Great Wall Motor’s performance in 2021 has maintained double growth, but it is also suffering from core shortages. The best-selling model Tank 300 once postponed delivery or extended the delivery cycle due to lack of cores.

Wang Fengying, President of Great Wall Motors, put forward the “Suggestions on Promoting the Rapid Development of China’s Automotive-Grade Chip Industry” at the two sessions in 2022. “The chip shortage in 2021 has exposed the problem that the automotive-grade chip industry has not achieved independent control.” She mentioned in the proposal that the development cycle of automotive-grade chips is long, the threshold is high, and the profits are low. The willingness to grade chips is low.

But Chinese automakers are increasingly demanding automotive chips. In 2012, the average number of chips per car was 500, and 10 years later this number has grown to 2,200. Relevant institutions predict that by 2035, the share of my country’s automotive semiconductors will reach more than 30% of the global semiconductor.

Among all kinds of chips, the MCU (micro-control unit, or single-chip microcomputer) is the most in short supply for Chinese car companies, because the domestic MCU control chip is the weakest, which is a market highly monopolized by foreign capital.

Data from IHS shows that Renesas Semiconductors accounts for 30% of the supply of automotive MCUs. The world’s top seven suppliers are Renesas, NXP, Infineon, and Sarplus (acquired by Infineon) , Texas Instruments, Microchip, STMicroelectronics, a total of 98% of the market share.

Source: Sina Technology

Infineon is in a dominant position in motor control chips. Nvidia’s autonomous driving chips have won a large number of orders from Chinese car companies, such as Weilai, Lili Auto, Zhiji Auto and WM Motor, all of which have chosen Nvidia’s Orin chips.

“Few people are willing to put in patience, more are making quick money”

When asked about measures to expand investment in automotive chips, many car companies are reluctant to answer directly, or even talk about it. On the one hand, auto companies are worried that their investment in chips will affect the existing supply chain cooperation. bigger.

In July 2021, Horizon released the full-scenario vehicle intelligent central computing chip Journey 5 in Shanghai. At the press conference, Yu Kai, the founder of Horizon, said bluntly, “This is the most important product launch event in the six years since Horizon was established.” The reason for this is that Horizon will only realize mass-produced car-level chips in 2021. , and further launch an intelligent platform based on Journey 5.

In addition to Horizon and the chip start-up company Xinchi Technology, many car companies have also begun to increase their investment in the chip field.

In the supply of MCU, BYD is one of the few Chinese companies with a little reputation. In addition to BYD, the market share of domestic car-grade MCUs is almost 0. “A large part of our sales in 2021 is due to not being affected by the lack of cores, and some chips have achieved self-sufficiency.” A person from BYD said.

In October 2021, BYD announced that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange agreed to spin off its subsidiary BYD Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “BYD Semiconductor”) and list it on the GEM of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The development of BYD Semiconductor was also disclosed.

According to Omdia statistics, BYD Semiconductor ranks second among global manufacturers of IGBT modules for motor drive controllers for new energy passenger vehicles in China, with a market share of 19%.

But No. 1 Infineon is still far ahead of BYD Semiconductor in this field. Official information shows that BYD Semiconductor’s revenue from this business in 2020 is only 461 million yuan, accounting for 32.41% of BYD Semiconductor’s total revenue. Infineon’s sales in 2020 have reached 4.709 billion US dollars, which is nearly 60 times that of BYD Semiconductor. Such a wide gap in market revenue is related to the overall distribution of global automotive power semiconductors.

The new car-making forces that are still at a loss are also gradually increasing their investment in semiconductors.

The latest disclosure is the ideal car. Tianyancha information shows that the ideal car and Sanan Semiconductor jointly invested in the establishment of Sko Semiconductor, and cooperated in the layout of the automotive SiC (silicon carbide) chip and module market. Chips based on SiC materials can meet the requirements of new energy vehicles for compact design, high power density, high pressure/high temperature resistance, extended cruising range and shortened charging time.

Xpeng Motors also invested in Zhexin Electronics, which focuses on the SiC semiconductor field. One of the investors of Xiaopeng Motors, Xiaomi, which also owns mobile phone and automobile business, prefers to invest in the semiconductor field. More than 40 semiconductor companies such as Zonghuixin Optical Semiconductor have Xiaomi behind them.

A partner of an investment consulting agency told Sina Technology that with increasing policy support, semiconductor companies have become the investment focus of car companies.

“The same sentence, we are all making some edge chips, and the core chips are still in the hands of foreigners. With the help of the current policy, a lot of money has come in, but few people are willing to invest patience, and more to make quick money. Chips need money and time, or 5 years, 10 years, but they may not be able to do anything.” The above-mentioned chip industry person who was interviewed emphasized again.

“The problem of Chinese chips is a systemic problem. Of course, the lack of chips also gives us a systemic opportunity. Our investment should focus more on subdivided fields and further consider international competitors.” Guoke Chen Hongwu, managing partner of Jiahe, talked about it in an interview with Sina Technology.

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