Can China Not Produce Automotive Chips?

[DallasFitz]

There are many types of automotive chips, and many of them are produced in China, but high-frequency chips cannot be manufactured in China. The relevant introduction to automotive chips is as follows: Introduction 1: Automotive chips are semiconductor component products, also known as integrated circuits, and are a very important part of motor vehicles. Without chips, motor vehicles cannot be used or operated. Automotive chips are installed in the vehicle's onboard computer and control all electrical components and related sensors of the motor vehicle. Introduction 2: If there is a problem with the vehicle's chip, it needs to be repaired at an after-sales service center. It cannot be solved by oneself and must be diagnosed using professional computer equipment, then repaired and installed by professional personnel. Otherwise, it is easy to cause more problems.

[StSteven]

I've learned that China's automotive chips indeed can't yet fully independently produce the most high-end products. You see, manufacturing automotive-grade chips is particularly stringent—they must withstand high temperatures, resist interference, and have a long lifespan. Currently, domestic production can achieve mass production of mid-to-low-end level chips, like basic ones controlling car lights and windows. Huawei's Ascend and Horizon's Journey series are already being used in new vehicles. However, for high-computing autonomous driving chips below 7nm, there's still reliance on imports, with TSMC's foundry services being the mainstream. The lack of breakthroughs in lithography machine technology is a major hurdle, waiting for SMIC to conquer advanced processes. Fortunately, we're doing well in new energy vehicle battery management chips, with BYD's self-developed IGBT modules already being exported. We might see more domestic replacements in the next five years.

[IsabelLee]

Let's break this down. On the design front, Chinese companies are quite capable - take Cambricon's autonomous driving chips already being installed in mass-produced vehicles. But manufacturing presents far greater challenges, especially since automotive-grade certification processes are much stricter than consumer-grade chips, and domestic factories haven't fully caught up on yield rates yet. Material supply chains remain constrained too, with photoresists mostly imported from Japan. The 2023 EV boom actually created opportunities - StarPower's power chips have been installed in over a million vehicles. With continued policy support for R&D and advances in etching equipment from companies like AMEC, achieving domestic production of mid-range chips within 3-5 years looks promising.

[BrandonFitz]

Of course they can be produced! Domestic automotive-grade chips are being increasingly widely applied. The MCU control chips independently developed by BYD have been used in the Han EV for several years. The Horizon Journey 5 chip boasts a computing power of 128TOPS and is already being utilized in the Li L8. While the 3nm process technology seen in smartphone chips hasn't been matched yet, 90% of automotive scenarios don't require that level of sophistication. I've noticed that domestic battery management chips cost 30% less than imported ones, making them a popular choice among automakers. Shanghai Jita Semiconductor's newly operational 12-inch production line is specifically dedicated to automotive-grade chips. Simply put, apart from the most cutting-edge autonomous driving chips, most can be domestically produced.

[VonGriffin]

This issue actually has two aspects to consider: Low-end chips have been producible for a long time, such as windshield wiper sensor chips, where Sino-Microelectronics has a large shipment volume. The problem lies in high-end chips, especially AI computing chips. After the U.S. banned the sale of high-end GPUs, domestic automakers collectively sought domestic alternatives. Fortunately, Black Sesame Technologies' Huashan series went into mass production last year, providing sufficient computing power. However, the production process below 14 nanometers is constrained. SMIC has just broken through the 7-nanometer barrier, but it hasn't been widely adopted in vehicles yet. Automotive-grade certification is also time-consuming, with testing alone taking six months. Nevertheless, GigaDevice's memory chips recently passed the AEC-Q100 certification, marking a significant breakthrough.

[Elias]

The progress in recent years has been enormous! China's automotive power semiconductors are now among the top three globally, with CRRC Times supplying silicon carbide modules to Tesla. 28nm process MCU chips, like G9 series from Xinchi Technology, have been installed in over twenty vehicle models. The most impressive part is Horizon's achievement of high-efficiency algorithms with mature processes, making their Journey 6 chip incredibly fast at running Transformer models. Although lithography technology is restricted, Chiplet technology allows us to boost performance through stacking. It's said that Xiaomi's electric cars are using self-developed chips for smart cockpits, and we'll see more Chinese chips in vehicles next year.