While North American consumers have yet to feel the full force of the shift, a seismic transformation is quietly rippling through the global auto industry—one that originates not in Detroit, Tokyo, or Munich, but in China. Over the past five years, Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) have surged from the fringes to the forefront of the automotive world, triggering what experts increasingly describe as a market "tsunami" that threatens to upend the status quo.
China's Ministry of Commerce has announced a sweeping anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into certain analog ICs imported from the US, in a move widely seen as both a retaliatory response to recent US tariff extensions and a strategic effort to bolster its domestic chip industry.
In the ongoing transformation of the global automotive industry, one shift stands above the rest: the rise of the software-defined vehicle, or SDV. More than a technological upgrade, the move toward SDVs is reshaping vehicle architecture, supply chains, and the strategic priorities of automakers and semiconductor companies alike.
Foreign chipmakers are partnering with Chinese firms as geopolitical tensions and supply chain risks reshape the global semiconductor industry. The push, known as a "China for China" strategy, aims to secure stable supply chains in China.
Germany's once-dominant automotive sector is facing its most profound reckoning in decades, shedding over 52,000 jobs — a 6.7% decline — in the past year alone, according to fresh data released by Destatis. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, the broader industrial sector has cut a total of 245,000 positions, with nearly half of those losses concentrated in the auto industry, according to estimates by the auditing and consulting firm EY.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is preparing to raise tariffs on a wide range of Chinese imports in her 2026 federal budget proposal, a move aimed at shielding domestic industries from low-cost competition and aligning more closely with the US's strategic trade agenda, according to people familiar with the matter.
Tesla and Samsung have struck a US$16.5 billion chip deal seen as a win-win, with Samsung's Texas fab set to produce Tesla's next-gen AI6 chips. Tesla gains customized supply chain support, while Samsung strengthens its foundry credibility and expands its external client base.
