As automotive chips do not account for a large percentage of SMIC's revenue, even an increase in demand will not affect SMIC's overall capacity, according to SMIC CEO Zhao Haijun.
Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, European semiconductor IDMs have less than half of their factories' capacity. As their production capacity cannot keep up with the order demand, the inventory will soon be consumed and orders will be shifted from IDM to the foundry.
SMIC has also received requests from customers to produce more automotive chips. Even if more automotive chips are produced, this is still a small percentage of SMIC's overall production capacity, Yicai.com quoted Zhao as saying.
Since 2020, there has been a wave of shortages in the international chip market that has spread to the automotive industry.
TSMC recently said it is making it a priority to address the chip supply challenges affecting the automotive industry and is ramping up the production of these products through its fabs.
Although chip foundries have said that increased capacity will be prioritized for the production of automotive chips, but in the case of generally tight production capacity, automotive chip capacity is difficult to increase in the short term.
Chip foundries, such as UMC Electronics, said their factories are currently operating at full capacity.
The global chip shortage has put enormous pressure on automakers and threatens their recovery from the epidemic. But it could also be an opportunity for Chinese automotive chipmakers to grow.
So far, the shortage of automotive-grade semiconductors has caused more than 10 car companies to cut production at nearly 20 plants around the world, and4.5 million fewer cars may be produced this year. Automakers worldwide are struggling to get the chips they need.
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