What is automotive chip What are the types of automotive chips

　　Chip is a general term for semiconductor component products, also known as integrated circuits (IC).

　　Automotive chips are mainly divided into three categories: functional chips (MCU, MicrocontrollerUnit), power semiconductors, and sensors.

　　Functional chips mainly refer to processor and controller chips. For a car to run on the road, it cannot do without the electronic and electrical architecture for information transmission and data processing. The vehicle control system mainly includes body electronic system, vehicle motion system, powertrain system, infotainment system, automatic driving system, etc. There are many sub-function items under these systems, and each sub-function item has a control system behind it. There will be a function chip inside the controller.

　　Power semiconductors are mainly responsible for power conversion and are mostly used in power supplies and interfaces, such as IGBT power chips for electric vehicles, and field effect transistors MOSFET that can be widely used in analog circuits and digital circuits.

　　Sensors are mainly used for various radars, airbags, tire pressure detection, etc.

　　What is an autonomous driving chip?The self-driving chip is essentially a functional chip, a high-computing chip produced with the development of smart cars. There is a saying that the self-driving chip is the Mount Everest of chips, representing the highest technical challenge.

　　At present, the commercially available autonomous driving chips are basically in the stage of advanced driver assistance systems, which can realize L1-L2 assisted driving, and some claim to realize L3 functions.

　　What is the main reason for the shortage of automotive chips?There are three main reasons for the sudden shortage of automotive chips:

　　First, the impact of force majeure such as the new crown epidemic and fire. Wafers are the raw materials for making chips. The new crown epidemic has brought a severe impact on wafer production. The world’s first and second wafer foundries TSMC and Samsung have been forced to suspend production due to employees being infected with the epidemic. At the same time, the strike movement in Europe and the fire at the Asahi Kasei plant in Japan once again affected the production capacity of wafer foundries.

　　Second, the rapid recovery of the auto industry and insufficient estimates from suppliers. According to the statistics of StrategyAnalytics, the number of functional chips installed in automobiles of all levels is increasing year by year. At present, the average number of functional chips used in automobiles is about 25, and some high-end models have exceeded 100. In the second half of 2020, the auto market represented by China will recover rapidly, exceeding the supply chain’s prediction of chip demand.

　　Third, competition for production capacity of consumer electronics products. On the one hand, the demand for consumer electronics products has increased significantly during the pandemic. On the other hand, the profit margin of in-vehicle chips is far lower than that of consumer electronics chips. Some chip suppliers tend to reserve production capacity for consumer electronics products.