On October 17, the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation convened a conference to enhance the industrialization and quality of domestic automotive-grade chips. During the event, the first list of certified automotive-grade chip review companies was unveiled, along with the introduction of version 1.0 of the automotive-grade chip certification system.
Despite Chinese cars representing 67% of global new energy vehicle sales from January to August, the country remains heavily reliant on imports for automotive-grade chips, achieving only a 10% self-sufficiency rate. In 2023, over 90% of chips used in China’s automotive sector were imported, with a staggering 99% reliance on computing chips and 92% on memory chips.
Luo Daojun, deputy director of the Components and Materials Research Institute at the Fifth Institute of Electronics of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), highlighted the dependency on foreign technologies in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software and Semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) cores, with 95% of IP cores and 96% of EDA-related intellectual property held by American and European companies.
To address this issue, the MIIT outlined plans in June 2023 to accelerate the development of standards for automotive-grade chip reliability and information security in the “Key Points for Automobile Standardization in 2024.” This includes formulating standards for intelligent driving computing chips, cellular communication chips, security chips, and electric vehicle power battery management system chips.
Chinese automakers such as SAIC, Geely, Great Wall Motor, BYD, Nio, Li Auto, and Xpeng are actively investing in the development of their own automotive-grade chips. For instance, SAIC announced a joint investment of 6.012 billion yuan (approximately $846 million) in June 2023 to bolster the semiconductor supply chain focused on automotive intelligence, electrification, and connectivity. The company aims to increase chip localization from 10% in 2023 to 30% by 2025.
Additionally, several automakers, including GAC, FAW, Xpeng, Deepal, and Li Auto, have entered joint ventures with chip manufacturers. GAC and CRRC Times, for example, established Guangzhou Qinglan to develop insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) for new energy vehicles.
According to the askci Corporation, China’s automotive-grade chip market is projected to reach 90.54 billion yuan (approximately $12.75 billion) by the end of 2024, representing a year-on-year increase of 6.5%. As the Chinese automotive industry transitions toward increased intelligence, the role of chips in technological innovation is becoming increasingly crucial.
Source: Carnewschina.com