On Investor Day on March 1, Tesla revealed a master plan to electrify transportation from cars to planes and increase the sustainability of the global economy. CEO Elon Musk said the master plan will take US$6-10 trillion throughout 10 or 20 years to achieve, which is only 0.5%-1% of the total value of the global economy and 60% of the total investment made in fossil fuel infrastructures last year.
Qualcomm is making fast advancements in automotive chips solutions, which is increasingly hard for arch competitor MediaTek to catch up. At the just-concluded MWC 2023, the US chipmaker unveiled its new Auto 5G Modem-RF Gen 2 as the latest addition to its growing Snapdragon Digital Chassis connected car technology portfolio.
Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage recently has disclosed plans to set up new production lines for automotive power semiconductors at its existing Himeji semiconductor manufacturing complex in Hyogo prefecture, western Japan. Construction of the new facility is set to commence in June 2024 and commercial production of automotive MOSFETs is set to start in the spring of 2025.
The display driver IC (DDI) provider, Raydium Semiconductor, has said that its revenue and ASP will remain under pressure in the first quarter of 2023, a slow season for the industry and a time for customers to adjust their inventories.
Taiwan-based IC design houses, such as Realtek Semiconductor, Novatek Microelectronics and Yusun Electronics, have entered the supply chain of BYD and other Chinese electric vehicle (EV) vendors, and are expected to enjoy a spike in orders from the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry in China this year, according to industry sources.
Taiwan's government announced a plan to phase out gas-powered vehicles by 2040. The high population density could make Taiwan a world leader in the frequency and efficiency of charging infrastructure, not to mention numerous EV charging solution providers from the silicon island. Nonetheless, Taiwan is still a long way off its 7,500 charging points by 2025, far fewer than 700,000 in China, 500,000 in the United States, and 3.5 million in Europe. Why?
As cars become more intelligent, ensuring better vision has been the priority, especially at night. US-based Owl Autonomous Imaging integrates thermal images with artificial intelligence to do object detection, classification and ranging for a vehicle. The company launched its first commercial product in early January.
MEMS-based sensing solution supplier Aceinna is bringing its high-precision positioning sensor system INS401 to the automotive market, noting that its goal is to reduce the costs of integrating high-precision sensors in automobiles for carmakers.
Vehicles with connectivity and autonomous driving capability will require much higher computing performance and low latency. Industry source said up-to-date autonomous driving solutions generally need more than 1,000 TOPS computing power, which brings in the challenges of heat dissipation and real-time processing for chipmakers building the architecture for carmakers.
Chip shortage resulted in around 4 million fewer vehicles being built in 2022. We can expect automotive chip shortages to continue throughout 2023. Since many automotive microcontrollers still use 90 nm technology, it has been difficult to add capacity. It take as much as five years to make new chip specification under clear validation processes. Automotive chips have not yet become a major business for foundries. TSMC's automotive chips account for only 5% of its revenue. Therefore, IDM manufacturers lack bargaining power with foundries.
Samsung Electronics announced that it would manufacture automotive AI chips for US-based Ambarella, a move for Samsung's foundry business to diversify away from maturing handset sector and into the emerging advanced automotive chips.
In keeping with the government's aim for IC self-sufficiency, Chinese auto vendors have become more eager to employ chips from the home market, according to industry sources.
CES 2023 showed how technology has transformed the future of mobility. Everyone can see automakers and tech firms grow closer. Software-defined vehicles take the center stage. The most noteworthy highlight is "smart cockpit."
The wave of import substitution in China's semiconductor sector, coupled with the strong demand from the EV market, has led many Chinese MCU (microcontroller unit) suppliers planning to enter the automotive MCU sector. For now, Chinese MCU suppliers mostly begin with products like chassis control, dashboard, and touch screen. Only a few suppliers have products for high-end applications like V2X and ADAS.
