Volkswagen has begun buying strategically essential chips it believes shall be in brief provide globally straight from 10 producers together with NXP Semiconductors, Infineon Technologies and Renesas Electronics the carmaker mentioned on Wednesday.
The German carmaker, which beforehand relied on its element suppliers to buy chips, started putting direct offers with chipmakers final October to make sure its provide was safe, in line with Karsten Schnake, head of a Volkswagen-wide taskforce for element provide based in 2022.
“Global market capacity is not sufficient. We must get active,” mentioned Dirk Grosse-Loheide, buying chief for Volkswagen’s passenger automobile model.
Demand for chips has risen dramatically within the automobile trade according to electrical car manufacturing and the necessity for more and more advanced software program. Supply has been gradual to observe due to the complexity in establishing chip factories.
Volkswagen and Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics introduced plans final July to co-develop a brand new semiconductor, marking VW’s first direct relationship with a second- and third-rank semiconductor provider.
Berlin has been courting the world’s largest contract chipmakers with billions of euros in subsidies. U.S.-based Intel and Taiwan’s TSMC this 12 months introduced plans to construct factories in Germany.
Volkswagen has not struck a direct provide relationship with TSMC – the world’s largest contract producer of semiconductors – however meets with them each few weeks to speak its demand state of affairs, Schnake mentioned.
The carmaker additionally plans to scale back the number of chips required in its automobiles to simplify the availability chain, which will even assist simplify its software program providing, Schnake added.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Jan Schwartz; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
