Recently, the State Administration of Market Supervision announced that the State Administration of Market Supervision has acted in accordance with the law to drive up the price of automobile chips by three auto chip distributors: Shanghai Qiante Electronics Co., Ltd., Shanghai Chengsheng Industrial Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Yuchang Technology Co., Ltd. Yuan fine.

　　 It is reported that these three distributors used the imbalance between the supply and demand of automotive chips, and when the purchase price was basically stable, they increased the price of automotive chips by a large margin. Downstream auto parts companies are faced with the risk of breach of contract compensation due to lack of chips and have to accept the high quotations from the parties.

　　 The chip shortage crisis in the automotive industry that began in the second half of 2020 has not only failed to ease in the third quarter of this year as expected by the industry, but has intensified over time. According to data released by the China Automobile Association, the decline in automobile production and sales in August further expanded. Up to now, my country's auto sales have declined for five consecutive months from the previous month, and four consecutive months of year-on-year decline. Industry experts said that one of the main reasons for the overall decline in automobile production and sales is the shortage of chips, which has affected the company's production plans.

　　 There are many reasons for the shortage of automotive chips. The continuation of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has caused global chip manufacturers to generally slow down their capacity expansion plans. The repeated epidemics have also forced some countries and regions to shut down chip production lines and interrupted the supply of specific types of chips. This is the main reason why many industries around the world continue to face core shortages. Coupled with the impact of the earthquake in Japan and the blizzard weather in Texas in the first half of this year, the production capacity of the global semiconductor industry has fallen sharply, and the supply of automotive chips is seriously insufficient.

　　 "Natural disasters" are inevitable, but "man-made disasters" shouldn't be avoided. Auto chip distributors, auto parts manufacturers, and vehicle manufacturers are supposed to be "grasshoppers on the same rope", and they deserve to share adversities. However, the substantial price increase behavior of certain distributors not only failed to increase product supply and ease the contradiction between supply and demand, but also created nervousness, causing panic stocking of parts manufacturers, car companies and other links, further aggravating the imbalance of supply and demand, and pushing prices too fast. Excessive rises have disrupted the order of market prices.

　　 The market economy is a free economy and an open economy, but also a credit economy and an economy under the rule of law. The behavior of an enterprise in the market not only represents itself, but also affects the entire market. If it is for one's own benefit and temporary benefit to damage the market order, undermine the market rules, and harm the interests of other market entities, even if they can obtain benefits in the short term, their future development will be greatly affected.

　　Take the three chip distributors that were punished as an example. In the case of an imbalance between supply and demand in the chip market, they did gain temporary benefits. Auto parts manufacturers are also forced to accept high-priced chips. However, the market image of the distribution company has been severely affected, and its reputation will be greatly compromised. Once the chip market stabilizes, it is believed that most auto parts companies will choose to abandon the distribution companies that took advantage of the fire and let them lose their long-term benefits.

　　 At present, the problem of tight chip supply chain will still exist for some time. It is recommended that relevant departments continue to strengthen the supervision of the price behavior of car chip operators. Other dealers and manufacturers with malicious price increases should be announced, and investors in these companies, especially those with large corporate backgrounds, should be urged to increase supervision over the behavior of distribution companies.

　　Sunshine always comes after wind and rain, the chip shortage problem will definitely be solved. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has made it clear that it will strengthen the monitoring of the development of the automotive industry and the supply capacity of chip manufacturing, address the current shortages of auto companies in a targeted manner, and actively support chip manufacturers to accelerate their supply capabilities. It is hoped that automobile chip distributors can take this punishment as a warning, put long-term interests first, follow the pricing principles of fairness, lawfulness, and honesty, and set reasonable prices to help automobile companies tide over the current difficulties. (Economic Daily News Liu Jin)