Semiconductor Industry Research - Analysis of Automotive-grade Chip Report (Part I), which briefly analyzes the classification, market dynamics and characteristics of automotive-grade chips. Next, we will continue to interpret the semiconductor industry research - the investigation report of automotive-grade chips.
1. Certification standards for automotive-grade chips
Automotive-grade chips need to pass AEC-Q testing, and different types of tests are required for different semiconductor devices, and different levels of testing are required for different applications
In the product design stage, automotive-grade chip products need to follow a different design path from general chip products, and the security requirements of automobiles put forward higher requirements for the reliability, stability and consistency of automotive-grade chips. Due to the wide temperature range (-40~+50°C), high vibration, dust, electromagnetic interference, oil and gas pollution and other harsh environments of the chips in the car, in order to ensure the possibility of operation in the above harsh environments, the company's automotive-grade chips generally use mature and reliable automotive-grade wafer manufacturing processes. Compared with the finer wafer manufacturing process, the mature and reliable wafer manufacturing process can withstand harsh environmental factors such as overcurrent, overvoltage, high temperature, and high humidity in the actual use of automobiles.
figure1:Certification standards for automotive-grade chips (source:Grant Thornton)
Automotive-grade products belong to Class A, which has the highest level of control, and the R&D process of this type of product is also specially regulated on the basis of the basic process. Reliability tests need to be completed before mass production of automotive-grade chip products, and three batches of products are verified in strict accordance with AEC-Q test procedures and standards to ensure the quality and stability of automotive-grade chip output. After passing the three verifications, an AEC-Q test report is formed, and the product is deemed to meet the AEC-Q reliability test standard
2. Examples of automotive-grade chip functions
The vehicle-grade chips required for new energy motors, batteries, and electronic control systems are unique to new energy vehicles, and other functions such as entertainment, body systems, and information networking are traditional
There is demand for both fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles; Intelligent driving function is a fast-growing automotive application in recent years, so compared with traditional fuel vehicles in the past, the new energy "three-electric system" and intelligent driving function have a greater demand for vehicle specification chips.
figure2: Automotive-grade Chip (source: Grant Thornton)
3. Global supply of automotive-grade chips in 2022-2024
Since 2020, due to factors such as the mismatch between production and demand, and the demand for consumer electronics crowding out production capacity, the production capacity of automotive-grade chips has gradually tightened, and the average delivery cycle of products has been extended from 6-9 weeks to about 26 weeks. In 2023, the supply of automotive-grade chips will gradually recover, and in the second half of 2023, the inventory of automotive-grade chips will be high, and customers' orders for chip purchase orders will be tightened. However, in terms of demand structure, high-end MCUs and IGBTs are still in short supply.
Vehicle-grade chips account for about 10% of the total sales of the global semiconductor market , due to the small number of new production capacity at the vehicle specification level, and the characteristics of the long certification cycle of vehicle-grade chips, the new production capacity cannot be released quickly, and at the same time, the superimposed automotive intelligence exceeds expectations, the demand for consumer electronics has increased, resulting in the shortage of automotive grade chips since 2020, and by the end of 2023, with the successive investment of new production capacity, the supply of vehicle-grade chips has been significantly alleviated.
Before 2020, the automobile market was sluggish, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles was slow, and the demand for automotive-grade chips was expected to be low by automobile OEMs and Tier1 suppliers, and the normal delivery time of chips in 2019 was an average of 6-9 weeks.
figure3: Global supply of automotive-grade chips in 2022-2024
In 2023, with the continuous investment in new production capacity, the average cycle will be shortened, and the capacity shortage will be alleviated. According to Caixin, SMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun said on the third quarter of 2023 earnings call that the inventory of automotive-grade chips began to be high, causing major customers to be alert to market corrections and tighten orders; At the Global New Energy and Intelligent Vehicle Supply Chain Innovation Conference held on November 1, 2023, Li Zhaolin, a professor at the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Tsinghua University, pointed out that due to the expansion of global chip suppliers, the "core shortage" of automobiles has been greatly alleviated, but MCUs and IGBTs are not sufficient.
