Ming-Cheng Lin, director of automotive and MCU business development at TSMC, advises that in order to guarantee their steady supply, automobile OEMs should collaborate closely with IDM and pure-play foundries and think about creating “buffer stocks.”
According to Lin, the entire production cycle—from accepting orders for automotive IC to beginning shipments—takes around five months. It would take a lot longer to construct new production lines or fabs for the manufacture of automotive chips, Lin added. These factors all contribute to the supply of automotive ICs being limited since 2021.
Working closely with foundries can provide supply-side difficulties, although Lin said that creating “buffer stocks” might help to reduce the danger of chip shortages.
Automotive chips are a promising market for IDMs and pure-play foundries because almost every nation in the world wants to switch to electric vehicles. According to Lin, the size of the automotive IC market, which is expected to surpass that of the phone market by 2030, will be US$135 billion.
With its extensive technology portfolio, which includes N5A and N6RF, and enough fab capacity, TSMC is equipped to support the automotive market. According to Lin, TSMC is also developing production procedures for GaN devices and discrete automotive components.
Speaking at Semicon Taiwan 2022’s Global Smart Vehicle Executive Summit on September 15, Lin made the remarks.
