Five years after the global "chip shortage" crisis that swept the world in 2021, the specter of semiconductor shortages and soaring battery costs continues to loom over the automotive industry. This article summarizes what types of chips the global automotive sector is actually facing shortages of:
1.Power semiconductors (Diodes,Transistors,Mosfets,IGBT,Modules), once considered minor chips and not the primary concern, power chips are equally susceptible to crises.The crisis began with the "international incident" involving Nexperia several months ago.Nexperia holds a global market share of over 30% in automotive-grade power semiconductors.Due to Nexperia's manufacturing capacity being mainly concentrated in China, the "export restrictions" directly impacted its overseas major customers.
2.Storage Chips,are mainly affected by demand cycles.In recent years, the surge in demand for AI servers, data centers, etc., has driven up storage chip prices.The demand for storage capabilities in intelligent vehicles is also growing, thus the automotive industry is similarly affected by storage chip shortages.Storage chips include memory and flash memory.Memory giants include Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. Flash memory giants include Samsung, SK Hynix, Kioxia, Micron, and SanDisk.
SK Hynix expects storage shortages to persist until the end of 2027.Tech giants like Microsoft and Google are scrambling to secure supplies from storage chip manufacturers such as Micron, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix.The tight supply of storage chips reflects intense capital competition.
In 2026, the automotive industry will face an unprecedented storage chip supply crisis, with satisfaction rates potentially below 50%.
3.Video Processing Chip.The global 8M CIS chip market is almost monopolized by three overseas industry giants: Omnivision Technologies, Sony, and onsemi.
The video encoding chip market is relatively stable, dominated by giants such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, and Hisilicon Semiconductor. In the era of intelligent driving, functions like multi-screen high-definition entertainment, driving recorders, and remote monitoring in intelligent cockpits are becoming increasingly popular.With extremely rapid product iteration, the demand for video processing chips is surging.
