In 2023, China will successfully achieve both automobile production and sales exceeding the 300 million mark, ranking among the world's automobile manufacturing and trading powers. This feat is a testament to the hard core of the continental automotive industry and underlines our vital position in the global automotive market. However, behind this brilliant achievement, there are still many problems that need to be solved urgently, especially the problem of insufficient supply of chips, which is a key core component. This article will provide a comprehensive review of the current state of the automotive industry in China, an in-depth discussion of the challenges faced in the process of chip autonomy, and a forward-looking forecast for future development trends.
The current state of China's automotive market
With its rapid rise and technological innovation, the automotive industry in China once again ranked first in the world, and continued to maintain stable production and sales. In particular, it has made a major breakthrough in new energy vehicles and led the global market. According to statistics, the total sales of new energy vehicles in mainland China have exceeded 50% of the world's total, consolidating the leading position of mainland in this field. Still, we need to pay attention to the resulting chip supply shortage.
It has been repeatedly verified that as a key component in the automotive electronics industry, the performance advantages of automotive chips are directly related to the overall vehicle performance and driving experience. However, unfortunately, although the production and sales of mainland automobiles are among the largest in the world, the degree of dependence on foreign countries in the field of high-quality automotive chip R&D and manufacturing is still too heavy. This undoubtedly raises production costs, and at the same time puts us at a disadvantage in the global auto parts market.
Automotive chips play a key role in gasoline and diesel vehicles, electric or hybrid vehicles, and intelligent driving vehicles. With the rapid development of science and technology, especially the rapid development of the new energy vehicle market, the requirements for chip performance and quantity have been increased. The available data reveals that at this stage, high-end trams need to be equipped with at least 2,000 chips.
However, in the field of automotive core chips and strategic technology development, although Continental has certain independent research and development strength, the overall innovation capability still needs to be improved. At present, the market share of domestic on-board chips has only reached 15% of the predetermined target, and under the growing market demand, the mainland must introduce a large number of high-quality chips. This high dependence is not conducive to the development of the mainland's automotive industry, and poses a serious challenge to the stability of its supply chain. Especially at the time of the current globalization pattern changes, the possible instability of chip supply will seriously affect the normal operation of the mainland automobile manufacturing industry.
The development status of domestic automotive chips With the support of national policies, the localization of automotive chips in the semiconductor industry in mainland China has made significant progress, and the process level has been upgraded to a new height in key fields such as power devices, microcontrol units and sensors, laying a solid foundation for independent innovation chips. However, the technical difficulties of high-end chips such as AI microprocessor chips, which are indispensable for advanced autonomous driving, still need to be solved.
Progress in the field of automotive chips depends on innovation and industrial chain collaboration. From design and manufacturing to packaging and testing, every step of the process is characterized by high quality and precise control. Moreover, in view of the critical importance of chip safety, our chip development and production have always been carried out in accordance with strict international standards.
Future outlook and autonomy strategy In the process of coping with the challenge of localization of automotive electronic chips, China urgently needs to implement long-term and systematic strategic planning and formulate corresponding and effective implementation strategies. The first priority is to increase investment in the semiconductor industry, with a particular focus on improving the R&D and production capacity of cutting-edge technologies. Secondly, we will further promote the in-depth integration of industry, university and research, actively interact and collaborate with global leading enterprises, and learn from domestic and foreign innovation achievements. In addition, we will build a comprehensive and complete industrial chain system, covering the entire process from raw material procurement to terminal product utilization, and make every effort to shape an industrial ecosystem with independent intellectual property rights.
Increasing the chip production capacity of automakers will be related to their future rise and fall. Deepening the understanding and application of chip technology and ensuring that the mainland car industry continues to lead the world stage is the core strategic goal of the mainland automobile and semiconductor industry to jointly undertake and achieve a win-win situation.