More efforts needed to develop car chips

More efforts are needed to beef up the development of the auto chip industry in the Chinese mainland as semiconductors become essential to vehicles that are increasingly getting electric, connected and smarter, experts said. Dong Yang, Co-chairman of the China Automotive Chip Industry Innovation Strategic Alliance, an organization dedicated to promoting the development of the home-grown auto semiconductor sector, said: “Currently, we rely heavily on the import of crucial auto chips. Though the Chinese mainland accounts for more than 30% of global sales of cars, homegrown companies produce only about 5% of the number of global auto chips.” It is important to promote competitive local auto chip companies that can help car makers better deal with chip supply challenges and possible export restrictions imposed by other countries amid geopolitical uncertainties. Dong said: “We are striving for a healthier proportion of local chip production so that we can rely on ourselves whenever an emergency arises. Meanwhile, we will continue expanding international cooperation, given that chips and cars are both highly globalized industries.”

Miao Wei, former Minister of Industry and Information Technology, also said at a conference that the auto industry in the Chinese mainland lacks “chips and souls”, or crucial chips and operating systems, especially in vehicle regulation-level components. Vehicle regulations are requirements that automobiles must satisfy in order to be approved for sale or use in a particular country or region. “In the past, automakers basically ignored the production of chips and operating systems and left them to suppliers. While our automakers did little, foreign automakers have begun to invest in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), a major chipmaker, for more production capacity,” he said. Miao also said the auto industry in the Chinese mainland had gained some momentum in the first half of the “game”, or in the development of new energy vehicles, but the winning hand still lies in the second half of the game, which is the development of intelligent connected vehicles, the China Daily reports.