American programmable chip (FPGA) manufacturer Xilinx (Xilinx) said on Thursday (4th) that the shortage of automotive chips cannot be resolved in the short term, and it has now spread from the semiconductor manufacturing process to the supply of other materials and components.
Xilinx (XLNX-US) In an interview with Nikkei, CEO Victor Peng said that the serious shortage of automotive chips will not last for a whole year. Xilinx is doing its best to meet customer needs, but he also pointed out that the relevant supply chain has been affected by this. influences.
Peng said: “This problem is not limited to foundries. IC packaging substrates and discrete components are facing challenges.” Xilinx is a chip supplier to major automotive manufacturers worldwide.
Due to a serious shortage of automotive chips, including NXP Semiconductors, Infineon, Renesas and STMicroelectronics are rushing to produce chips. In addition to Daimler, Toyota, Ford and other automakers, General Motors has become the latest automaker to be affected, and announced on Wednesday that four plants will reduce production.
Automakers from various countries have urged TSMC (2330-TW) And UMC (2303-TW) Can increase output to solve the problem of shrinking automotive wafers.
The production of automotive chips involves a long supply chain, from design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, to automotive assembly. Although the entire automotive and semiconductor industries have realized the shortage of automotive chips, bottlenecks in other links are emerging.
Such as the accumulation of film (ABF) carrier board is also in short supply at this stage, according to Nikkei quoted a number of known industry sources reported that the delivery time of ABF carrier board has been extended to more than 30 weeks.
Sources said that chips used for AI and 5G consume a lot of ABF carrier boards. Demand in these areas is already very strong. Now the demand for automotive chips has rebounded, resulting in tighter supply and demand for ABF carrier boards. Even if suppliers continue to expand their production capacity, But still unable to keep up with demand.
Not to follow up with industry price increases
Although it is currently facing an unprecedented shortage of automotive chips, Xilinx CEO Peng believes that Xilinx currently has no plans to follow up with peers to increase automotive chip prices.
According to a Nikkei report, STMicroelectronics notified its customers in December that it will increase chip prices from January on the grounds that the sudden rebound in automotive demand has increased supply chain pressure.
NXP also issued an increase signal on Tuesday. The company said that since the supply chain has begun to increase prices, it has to pass it on to customers in the future.
Renesas has also informed customers that it will increase chip prices.
Regarding the outlook for 2021, Peng said that the growth trend of the semiconductor industry will be better than last year, but we must beware of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the uncertainty of the overall semiconductor outlook caused by the shortage of automotive chips.
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