How Stellantis will move in order not to run out of semiconductors
For a Fiat 500X you have to wait up to seven months. Stellantis, which collaborates with Infineon, NXP Semiconductors, onsemi and Qualcomm, has redesigned its semiconductor sourcing strategy to never run out
As is well known, since the end of the pandemic the hi-tech market – and the automotive one in particular – has run out of chips, around the production of which the geopolitical game of Taiwan is played out.
HOW LONG SHOULD YOU WAIT FOR A NEW CAR?
Anyone who has tried to buy a new car knows it well: waiting lists are getting longer and longer. According to the Corriere , for example, although the situation has improved markedly compared to the last two years, still today it takes between a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 7 for Hybrid engines to take home a Fiat 500X.
For the Fiat Panda, the best-selling car in Italy in May 2023, 4 months are expected on average, taking into account 3 months for the basic trim levels, reaching up to 5 for the full optional versions. Same timing for the Lancia Ypsilon, while it drops to 60 days for the Peugeot 3008 and 2008, which goes up to 90 days for customized versions which therefore include more options.
THE ABSENCE OF CHIPS AND THE COUNTERMOUSES OF THE MANUFACTURERS
Typically these delays are caused by the fact that the chips continue to be missing. In recent months, manufacturers have invested exceptional resources to ensure supplies, in some cases by pursuing joint ventures and partnerships with manufacturers or distributors, in others by making chips in-house. However, almost all of them have redesigned their supply chain.
THE PARTNERSHIPS
Stellantis has launched a partnership for the supply of semiconductors for a purchase value of over 10 billion euros until 2030. The supply agreements cover a wide range of microchips now essential for the increasingly hi-tech mobility of the future including: silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs for the electric vehicle (EV) range; microcontrol unit (MCU), an essential component of the computing zones for the STLA Brain electronic architecture and System-on-a-chip (SoC) for high-performance computing units (HPC) that provide power assistance functions autonomous driving and in-vehicle infotainment.
THE STRATEGY OF STELLANTIS TO ENSURE SEMICONDUCTOR
Additionally, to avoid the pitfalls of the recent past, Stellantis has redesigned the way it secures these now critical components, which includes implementing a semiconductor database, systematic risk assessment to proactively avoid and remove components legacy; long-term chip-level demand forecasting to support supply agreements with chipmakers and silicon smelters; the implementation and enforcement of a Green List to reduce chip diversity and, in the event of future semiconductor shortages, to allow Stellantis to control allocations and directly purchase critical components from manufacturers, including a warranty long-term supply of chips.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/stellantis-semiconduttori-strategia-forniture/ on Sun, 30 Jul 2023 13:38:32 +0000.