Sitting idle while global chips fry: US car industry asks Biden to earmark cash for automotive semiconductors
- Reference: 1617738972
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/04/06/car_industry_semis/
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The gloomy prediction came from the [1]Alliance for Auto Innovation , an umbrella group that consists of big-name carmakers like BMW and Ford, as well as downstream suppliers like HARMAN, Intel, and Texas Instruments. Its members account for 99 per cent of all cars manufactured in the US.
[2]
In a written reply to a government-initiated review of the US semiconductor supply chain [3]obtained by Reuters , the alliance urged the Biden administration to dedicate some of the [4]planned $37bn of semiconductor investment to automotive silicon, rather than the small-node chips used in PCs and smartphones.
Subaru parks plans to make 58,000 cars due to brakes on silicon supply chain [5]READ MORE
[6]
John Bozzella, the alliance's chief exec, asked for support to create "new capacity that will support the auto industry and mitigate the risks to the automotive supply chain evidenced by the current chip shortage." Funding, he said, should be allocated proportionally based on the needs of the industry.
The automaker sector has found itself acutely affected by the ongoing semiconductor crunch. These ongoing woes, which are forecast to result in an estimated $61bn revenue shortfall, are the by-product of bad luck and poor forward planning.
Japanese auto-maker Subaru [7]announced yesterday that it was making “production adjustments” due to semiconductor supply chain issues - after earlier cutting its production plan for this fiscal year by around 48,000 vehicles due to the chip crisis.
In February, both [8]Nissan and Honda said semiconductor shortages would impact their sales this year.
At the start of the pandemic, the car industry drastically cut back on semiconductor orders in anticipation of plummeting demand from consumers. In reality, demand recovered far faster than expected as consumer confidence returned in the second half of the year.
Carmakers now face an uncomfortable dilemma. In many cases, the production capacity they abandoned have been swallowed up by other silicon-hungry sectors, placing new orders at the back of a queue. Additionally, it takes time to ramp up production, with lead times of up to 26 weeks considered normal. This is thanks to the inherent intricacies of semiconductor manufacturing, as well as the extensive testing and certification required for car chips, which goes above and beyond that for the chips used in smartphones and tablets.
Complicating matters, most automakers rely on just-in-time supply chains, with factories holding a minimal amount of inventory. With limited supplies to lean on, the automotive sector has been forced to cut back on production.
On the production side, things aren't much better. The limited production capacity that exists has been disrupted, and in some cases entirely curtailed due to freak weather events. At the start of the year, NXP and Samsung were [9]forced to suspend production at its Texas factories due to a cold snap that resulted in state-wide blackouts. Another automotive chipmaker, Renesas, [10]suffered a fire at a Japan factory , resulting in production being suspended or shifted to other foundries.
Although new funding for additional semiconductor production is unlikely to arrive in time to solve the current crisis, it could nonetheless help limit the chance of any future supply crunches.
All quiet on the consumer front
Not all semiconductor users have been affected equally, and the consumer and PC sectors have largely weathered the storm, despite shortages of some popular products, like graphics cards and latest-generation games consoles, and a surge in demand from end users.
And the future looks bright, claimed Acer's President for Pan-Asia Pacific Operations, Andrew Hou. [11]Speaking to reporters in Taipei , he said the company expected to see an uptick in its access to components by the second quarter of this year, with the situation improving throughout the year.
Tablets and Chromebooks are hot, towers and desktops are not: El Reg combs through Q3 PC numbers [12]READ MORE
Acer, the world's fifth-largest PC maker, has largely benefited from the ongoing coronavirus crisis as consumers bought new machines for remote working and learning.
In [13]the 2020 financial year , revenues grew by 18.3 per cent to NT$277.09bn, driven by healthy sales across its gaming, Chromebook, ultraportable (referred to as "thin and light notebooks") and monitor divisions.
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Sales of Chromebooks soared by 95.4 per cent as the cheap notebooks became a sought-after commodity for schools and parents. Gaming PCs and ultraportables grew by 30.5 per cent and 62.3 per cent respectively, while the company's monitor division enjoyed a 21.3 per cent uptick. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.autosinnovate.org/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YGzaDMTHAt-QvvGBo32CNAAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chips-shortage-autos/u-s-auto-industry-calls-for-government-help-as-it-warns-of-impact-of-chip-shortage-idUSKBN2BT09M
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/25/biden_chip_shortage_pledge/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/06/subaru_succumbs_to_chip_shortage/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YGzaDMTHAt-QvvGBo32CNAAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/06/subaru_succumbs_to_chip_shortage/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/10/honda_nissan_report_semiconductor_shortages/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/17/texas_blackouts_semiconductor_fabs/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/21/renesas_fire/
[11] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-acer/taiwans-acer-sees-global-chip-shortage-gradually-easing-idUSKBN2BT0J1
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/17/canalys_q3_pc/
[13] https://news.acer.com/acer-reports-consolidated-revenues-for-q420-at-nt8260-billion-highest-quarter-in-six-years-and-for-december-at-nt2836-billion#
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YGzaDMTHAt-QvvGBo32CNAAAAMY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Ban chips in cars
These are american cars, they should have 4.8 liter (or whatever that it is in cubic hogsheads) engines with no O2 sensors, no anti-lock brakes and no airbags
We don't need no steenkin computers in our cars
Re: Ban chips in cars
I agree 100%, if you drop them, they make the seats greasy and your fingers are slippy on the steering wheel.
Re: Ban chips in cars
These are american cars, they should have 4.8 liter (or whatever that it is in cubic hogsheads)
Ah, so a fun car might have a BBC (Big Block Chevvy, not the UK's bastion of wokeness) with the 454 cubic inch model being a modest little number that converts to a tad over 13 pints. Being a Brit, I find that easier to visualise as it's ethanol consumption rate vs those namby pamby EUnits, ie 7.4l. Ok, that gets a bit more complex after factoring in drinking aids, such as turbos, superchargers or straws.
But it also demonstrates a limitation of ICEs, ie a hogshead is 54 gallons, so around 15,000 cubic inches, thus would require NHRA certfied tracks to extend staging lanes for 1/4 or 1/8th mile events considerably, as well as probably ending the ability for competitors to beat their opponents by a car length. There would be safety advantages however, like virtually eliminating the risk of wheelies for both front and rear-engined cars.
So rather than shooting for the moon, I propose a more modest starting point. So the 2,500c.i V-Lots engine. This has several marketing advantages, ie people may think it's 2,500 c c , and then triggering the subliminal 'iWant' response in a petrolhead who thinks bigger is better, after explaining their error. There would be further benefits, ie the reaction of 'look at that firkin car go!'.
And of course to pacify the other BBC, it'd also be sustainable. So engine management systems utilising current, standard CPUs would have ample capacity to manage a few extra cylinders per car. Thus fewer chips would be needed for a given engine volume than say, lots of screaming 2JZs.
Not all of us
The chipmakers try to put this all on the automakers. For one automaker at least, we placed purchase orders, made forecasts, confirmed POs, and scheduled deliveries, only to have orders get pushed out or canceled.
I'm sure our planning and scheduling was based on lean principles, which are fine until you have a pandemic, a supplier has a fire, or a big ass ship gets wedged in a canal and all the dominoes fall like a house of cards... checkmate!