Bosch China executive expects chip shortage to drag on to 2022

Beijing (Gasgoo)- During the 2021 China Auto Supply Chain Conference, the vice president of Bosch China, Jiang Jian, said the chip supply crunch is expected to last through 2022 as chips carry increasingly significant weight with the auto intellectual transformation.

Photo credit: Bosch China

According to the vice president, a traditional internal combustion engine vehicle is loaded with roughly 100 to 200 pieces of semiconductor chips, whereas a new energy vehicle deploys 500 to 600 pieces. Based on the data collected in 2020, Bosch is only able to provide 17 pieces on either vehicle type, especially lacks controller chips that need to be procured in a large amount from other companies.

During the first half of this year, chip order fulfillment was 80%, but plummeted to 20% in July, affected by suppliers’ production plan changes, said the president of Bosch China, Chen Yudong. The situation has been getting better since September. However, the supply fulfillment rate remains low at 50% at best.

Bosch China would like to work with international companies and China’s local automotive chip suppliers as well, the head added. The competitiveness of local suppliers should be enhanced, but it takes time for the replacement.  For the last quarter of this year, market demands will not be satisfied 100%, and a continuing semiconductor supply crunch of 10% to 20% should be expected as a new norm in 2022.