Under the epidemic, the shortage of chips in the automotive industry continues to ferment. In order to prevent foreign chip companies from cutting off the supply, we should plan ahead and study countermeasures in advance. So, what is the current development situation of my country's automobile chip industry, what kind of international situation is facing, and how to break the situation? This article analyzes in detail the shortcomings of my country's automotive chip industry and puts forward suggestions for industry development.

                                                                                              An Qingheng, Director of China Automotive Industry Advisory Committee

    The global automotive chip market is huge

    The scale of the automotive chip market is huge, especially due to the rapid development of new energy vehicles and autonomous driving technology, the chips used in automobiles will increase rapidly, and the development prospects of automotive chips are very good.

    As far as I know, at this stage, an ordinary car uses about 600 chips, and it will increase to more in the future. According to the China Automotive Chip Industry Innovation Strategic Alliance, the cost of my country’s automotive chips will be about US$400/vehicle in 2019 and will reach US$600/vehicle in 2022. It is estimated that my country’s automotive market will sell approximately 25 million vehicles in 2022. At that time, the scale of my country's automotive chip market could reach US$15 billion.

    The global annual production and sales of more than 100 million new cars will require a considerable number of chips, and the complexity of chips will also increase rapidly. The overall market size may reach 100 billion US dollars, which is very impressive. At present, the scale of the automotive chip industry only accounts for 10% of the entire chip industry, but technological development trends indicate that automotive chips will surpass mobile phone chips to become the largest semiconductor market. The future development of the automotive chip industry deserves our attention.

    China's automotive chip industry is facing a severe situation

    1. At present, the autonomy rate of automotive chips in my country is very low.

    According to statistics from relevant units, my country’s autonomy rate in computing control chips is less than 1%, communication chips is less than 3%, sensor chips and storage chips have a market share of less than 5%, and power semiconductors are also less than 10%. The autonomous development of automotive chips still has a long way to go.

    2. China's independent car chip industry chain has long been constrained by others.

     At present, everyone is paying attention to the problem of chip shortage, and this problem cannot be avoided. Just take the wafer production of chips as an example. This is an industry that requires a lot of investment and is very complicated. The wafer supply is now a big problem. Everyone knows that global automotive chips cannot get rid of TSMC. The wafers produced by TSMC's foundry are mainly supplied to the world's top semiconductor suppliers, and independent semiconductor companies have no say in the procurement cycle and price. Of course, this is only one aspect of the problem. In addition, chip development is also facing the expansion of semiconductor demand in consumer electronics and other fields, as well as domestic constraints in semiconductor equipment and materials. These factors make it very difficult for China to develop independent chips. It is difficult to change this status quo in the short term.

    3. On the one hand, large foreign companies have their own difficulties, and on the other hand, they are also looking for ways to cope with the independent development of Chinese automotive chips.

     By accelerating the localization of multinational companies in China, accelerating technological iterations, raising technical barriers, restricting the export of high-end equipment or materials, implementing price adjustment strategies and other measures to prevent the development of China’s chip industry, it also changes the competition in the market and technology. Got more intense.

    4. It is not absolutely impossible for foreign chip companies to cut off the supply. We should plan ahead and study countermeasures in advance.

    Chinese automotive chip companies

    The results achieved are obvious to all

    On the other hand, the severe situation will also help China's auto chips to accelerate their independent development. At the moment, Chinese companies are strengthening independent development, trying to find domestic chips, trying to improve technical levels such as computing power, and taking various measures such as more stocking to overcome difficulties.

    Especially in recent years, with the advocacy and encouragement of relevant departments and the efforts of industry leaders, my country's automotive chip industry has made considerable progress.

    1. In the field of power semiconductors, BYD and CRRC have made great breakthroughs in IGBT chips. BYD has given a good head to the auto industry. BYD Han sells very well, BYD’s blade batteries are very successful, BYD’s stock has risen rapidly, BYD’s new energy vehicle production and sales have always been in the forefront of the world, BYD’s chips are not only for self-use, It can be provided externally and it is worth learning.

    2. In the field of computing control chips, although there is still a big gap between my country and the world's leading companies, with the help of the in-depth advancement of automotive intelligence, domestic companies have achieved rapid development in subdivisions such as ADAS dedicated chips. For example, star companies such as Horizon have achieved significant results in the development and application of smart chips for autonomous driving. The cooperation between Horizon and Changan Automobile has been very successful. Changan’s new model UNI-T is the first smart car equipped with domestic artificial intelligence chips. The intelligent cockpit NPU computing platform jointly developed by Changan Automobile and Horizon has built-in China’s first automotive-grade AI chip. ——The second generation of Horizon Journey, with a computing power of 4 trillion times per second.

    Recently, Horizon will upgrade its cooperation with SAIC to a strategic cooperation with Shanghai to jointly promote the ecological construction of smart cars. In addition to the previous in-depth cooperation between Chery and Great Wall and Horizon, it shows that the development of Horizon has been greatly accelerated. It has begun to cooperate with many companies, and is sprinting for million-level shipments. The goal of 1 million vehicles) has promoted the development of China's chip industry with actual results, giving the Chinese people confidence.

    3. In the field of in-vehicle communication chips, Huawei, ZTE, and Datang Telecom have all developed their own chips and systems, and have actively entered the field of Internet of Vehicles and autonomous driving. In addition to mobile phones, there are other products that resolutely overcome difficulties and seek development. Everyone knows that Huawei has suffered multiple rounds of sanctions by the United States and its chip foundry has been banned. Just when the whole world thought that Huawei was no longer good, Huawei recently announced that the "Hongmeng" system was put on mobile phones. Huawei is currently cooperating with many auto companies to support the development of auto companies. Huawei is a model for our independent development. With such a good company taking the lead, car chips can't tide over the difficulties.

    In addition, complete vehicle companies such as Dongfeng Motor and Zero Running Motor have also stepped up their efforts to enter the semiconductor industry. The production line of Zhixin Semiconductor Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Dongfeng Motor Group Company, with an annual output of 300,000 sets of power chip modules will be put into mass production in April 2021; Leapfrog Motors announced the launch of the AI ​​intelligent driving autonomous chip "Lingxin 01". It may be difficult to achieve these goals in the end, but these companies have taken a big step forward after all.

    4. Recently, the "China Automotive Chip Industry Innovation Strategic Alliance" was formally established, aiming to realize the independent R&D and production of my country's automotive chips through the cross-border integration of the automotive and chip industries and the establishment of an alliance with the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. I believe that through the work of the alliance, the development of my country's automotive chips will surely be promoted.

    I cannot draw conclusions about the future of the automotive industry, but it is obvious that although we are still far from changing the status quo where we mainly rely on imports for chips, the entire automotive industry is already working on high-power chip platforms, vehicle-road collaboration, and autonomous driving AI algorithms. Progress has been made in the field, and progress has been made in the cooperation between chip companies and vehicle companies, which is still very gratifying.

    Some suggestions for the development of automobile chip industry

    1. Intensify efforts to develop basic research.

    To conquer the key technology of automotive chips may require a down-to-earth, steady fight. We must start from the basic level, put out more national scientific research funds, can withstand loneliness, and lay a solid foundation for industrial development from basic materials and craftsmanship.

    Regarding this point, the top leaders of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have already slapped their chests in front of the world and will quickly solve the "stuck neck" problem in all high-tech fields. Among them, dozens of high-tech problems related to chip production are listed as the top priority. With China's strong economic foundation, the strength of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the ambition of the leadership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research and development of the chip field should get out of the predicament, and no force can stop the leap forward in China's high-tech field.   

    2. Focus on promoting the development of leading enterprises.

    The country and the industry should attach great importance to the automotive chip industry and implement industrial support policies for a period of time. It is reported that the US government wants to invest 37 billion U.S. dollars in the development of chips. Such efforts are still very large. We hope that our government will give priority protection and support to independent industries that have not yet grown in a period of time, and intensify efforts to foster their development and growth. The country must invest in the investment, and it must use China's huge market and effective policies to quickly nurture 1~2 or 2~3 independent leading enterprises, realize the independent control of the industry, and have the ability to participate in international competition.

    We should fully support the strongest manufacturing chip foundry companies in the mainland market such as SMIC to achieve independent control from basic links such as chip materials, technology, and design. At the same time, it will give practical encouragement to chip design companies such as Huawei and Horizon to create an atmosphere of vigorous development of the chip industry.

    3. Actively promote the innovation and deep integration of the automotive chip industry.

    We should emancipate our minds, encourage automotive chip companies to build factories in China, or speed up chip development through the establishment of joint ventures. At the same time, we must strive to build a third-party platform to promote collaborative innovation and simultaneous development of vehicle companies and parts companies. China Automobile Zhichuang has done a lot of pioneering work in helping to coordinate and solve the application of domestic chips in the whole vehicle, and has made considerable progress, which is worthy of support and promotion.

    Of course, autonomous vehicle companies should also appropriately give domestic chip companies the opportunity to trial and error and verify performance on the basis of national policy support, summarize problems in applications, conduct product improvement and optimization, and form a zero-level coordination mechanism to promote applications. development of.

    4. As the current shortage of chips continues to ferment, all sectors of society should actively coordinate all links. The government and all parties must coordinate and deal with the problems of upstream foundries in order to deal with the crisis of automotive chip supply cut out at the least cost. Put most of our energy on breaking through technical barriers to create a more favorable development environment for the recovery of the global automotive industry.