Stellantis Sees Risk of New Chip Shortage on Demand Surge
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expects semiconductor shortages to re-emerge on growing demand for electric vehicles at a time of increased geopolitical risk, making the current respite short-lived.
The risk of a return of severely stretched chip supply 鈥渨ill increase dramatically鈥 in coming years as vehicle software functions balloon, according to Joachim Kahmann, who oversees semiconductor purchases for the Jeep maker.
In the last two years, the huge diversity of semiconductors in cars meant 鈥渨e had multiple issues everywhere, and once we solved one topic, a new topic popped up,鈥 he said July 18 in an interview. As Stellantis shifts to EVs requiring more complex chips and common platforms, any shortage 鈥渕ay impact not only one or two of our plants, but maybe five or six or seven.鈥
Protracted bottlenecks on semiconductor supply hit vehicle output during the pandemic. While the crisis may be mostly over, chip capacity remains constrained. The industry is also still subject to heightened geopolitical risk after China said it would restrict exports of two metals used in the semiconductor and EV industries.
To mitigate those risks, Stellantis is inking deals with , and Qualcomm Inc., among others, and is setting up a semiconductor database with order plans that stretch years into the future. Stellantis expects to spend 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) through 2030 to secure various kinds of semiconductors.
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The company also is working with and to develop its own semiconductors.
Stellantis is among major carmakers transitioning to electric vehicles, which tend to use more chips than cars running on gasoline or diesel. The company last month unveiled plans for an EV costing less than 25,000 euros that鈥檚 due to go on sale early next year.
While Kahmann said China鈥檚 restriction on exports of gallium and germanium should be manageable, rising tensions with China 鈥渋s definitely a topic.鈥 The company is working to reduce reliance on chips from both China and Taiwan, he said.
For now, the chip situation 鈥渋s much improved鈥 with sufficient supply for the second half of the year, though it鈥檚 鈥渏ust a matter of time鈥 for the next bottleneck to come up, he added.
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