Automotive MCU shortage gradually eases

The shortage of automotive MCUs will be eased in 2022, but a new wave of parts supply imbalance will emerge and may last until 2023, with the core chip of ADAS leading the crisis, industry sources reveal.

Industry sources revealed that the shortage of automotive MCUs will be alleviated in 2022, but a new wave of parts supply imbalance will emerge and may continue until 2023, the core chip of ADAS will lead the crisis.

Digitimes reported that sources said that strong TSMC foundry support and more back-end lead bonding capacity from packaging and testing vendors (OSAT) could help close the supply gap for automotive MCUs and related peripheral chips, which are manufactured using mature process nodes.

However, ADAS chips, which primarily use FC (flip chip) packaging technology, are expected to be in short supply in 2022 due to a shortage of ABF carrier boards required for the FC process, the source noted.

"Currently, neither OSAT nor international automotive chip IDMs can obtain sufficient ABF carrier board supply to support their ADS chip production, as the vast majority of ABF carrier board capacity from IC carrier board manufacturers in Taiwan, China, Japan, South Korea and Austria has been booked by major CPU, GPU and other HPC chip suppliers. " The source said.

It remains to be seen how the upcoming new wave of automotive chip supply imbalances will affect automakers' production and shipments, but offers for ADAS chips are expected to rise in 2022 due to supply shortages, the sources said.

In addition, the sources pointed out that the enhanced back-end lead bonding capabilities of Taiwan-based IC packaging manufacturers such as Sunrise, Chaofeng Electronics, Lingsheng Precision and Huatai Electronics on automotive MCU and other peripheral chips is partly due to the installation of new lead bonding equipment, and partly due to the slowdown in demand for consumer electronics chip processing.