China's electric vehicle market is entering a harsher phase. Consumers are replacing cars at an unusually rapid pace, yet automakers are struggling to convert that demand into sustainable profits as vehicle prices fall and battery materials and automotive chips become more expensive.
AI-driven demand is tightening global memory supplies, crowding out smartphones, PCs, and vehicles as DRAM and NAND Flash capacity is diverted toward data centers. Smart cars are among the hardest hit, and in China, where smart car adoption is rising quickly, automakers face sharper shortages, pricier components, and margin pressure.
Six-inch silicon carbide (SiC) substrates, a third-generation semiconductor product that has faced oversupply and falling prices for the past two years, have clearly bottomed out and are even starting to recover as capacity remains constrained and demand emerges across multiple sectors. Semiconductor distributors say supply is now tight, and customers who want to buy more must pay more, with new orders becoming increasingly hard to absorb.
Taiwan's automotive parts makers are accelerating their transformation into high-tech suppliers as the global expansion of advanced semiconductor capacity and AI server infrastructure creates new demand for precision-engineered components. Companies traditionally focused on powertrain, transmission, and safety systems are leveraging decades of manufacturing expertise to secure positions in semiconductor equipment and AI liquid-cooling supply chains, creating new growth engines beyond their core automotive businesses.
China is tying its climate agenda more closely to industrial policy. The State Council's newly released Action Plan for Carbon Peaking in the 15th Five-Year Plan sets ambitious targets that could further accelerate domestic new energy vehicle (NEV) adoption while intensifying pressure on foreign automakers.
