What are MCU chips and the future of Automotive-grade MCU chips
Tags: mcu
Published: 2023-01-10 11:00:29

In the context of the rapid development of new energy vehicles, the demand for automotive grade chips has skyrocketed, so much so that the inventory of this type of imported chip stock is very sufficient from the beginning of this year, and in July there was even a significant price reduction, so the supply of chips is still sufficient for the next few months.

## What is the MCU for automotive grade chips?

[MCU](https://www.embedic.com/product/category-mcu/) (Microcontroller Unit) is a microcontroller, also known as a microcontroller, the computer contains the CPU, memory, I/O ports, etc. integrated in a chip to achieve the computing and control of the product. 

In-vehicle MCU is the core component of automotive electronic control unit (ECU), which is used in areas such as body control and driver assistance. The more bits in an in-vehicle MCU, the more complex the structure, the more processing power and the higher the unit price.

8-bit MCU for simple body control, such as air conditioning, wipers, seats, etc.
16-bit: mid-range chassis and low-end engines, such as brakes, brakes, etc.
32-bit: high-end engines, etc., such as instrument panels, engines, etc.

High barriers to automotive-grade MCU, overseas monopoly

Automotive MCU, not only the certification time is long, but also has relatively high industry barriers, and the global market is monopolized by overseas manufacturers. 

The combination of strict requirements for operating temperature, lifetime and yield, complex certification process and high standards means that the import time for automotive-grade MCUs is at least 3 to 5 years, but the maximum delivery time required by vehicle manufacturers is 30 years.

Most mainstream automotive-grade MCUs have their own architecture as the main route, overseas manufacturers have achieved mass production of 32-bit products, the core manufacturers can reach thousands of material number, and IDM-based, more advantageous in production and research mobilization. 

Domestic MCU is still mainly Fabless and cannot be certified separately for IATF16949 and other standards in the flow and packaging stage.

## Three models of automotive-grade MCU chips

IDM is called Integrated Device Manufacture, which is a one-stop industrial operation model integrating chip design, manufacturing, packaging, testing and sales. 

This industry model can well collaborate with design and manufacturing to achieve a closed-loop technology, which helps to quickly explore the potential of technology, but the disadvantage is the high operating costs and usually low returns. There are not many companies in the world with this capability, and the more representative types are: Samsung, Intel (Intel), STMicroelectronics (ST), Texas Instruments (TI), etc.

Fabless is commonly known as "fabless chip supplier" or "fabless", it is a kind of industrial operation mode that only engages in chip design and sales, and does not involve manufacturing, packaging and testing. 

The disadvantage of this industrial model is that it cannot achieve the technical co-design of IDM, it is difficult to complete the strict indicators, and because it involves sales, it also needs to bear the various risks from the market. Typical representatives of this mode of enterprise are: Qualcomm (Qualcomm), Heisi, MediaTek (MTK), Broadcom (Broadcom) and so on.

Foundry is often referred to as "foundry", which is an industrial operation mode responsible for only one of the chip manufacturing, packaging or testing, not responsible for the chip design process. 

This industrial model does not have to bear the market or product design defects and other decision-making risks, the disadvantage is that the investment scale is large, the cost of maintaining stable operation of the production line is high, and the need for continuous investment to improve the process level to ensure that the market is not eliminated. Typical representatives of such companies are: TSMC (TSMC), UMC (UMC), Grosvenor (Global Foundry), etc.

At present, the main domestic is Fabless, only has the design and sales and not involved in manufacturing, so it is easier to be stuck in the neck, which is also more able to accelerate the process of domestic substitution, especially to focus on the company in this industry deep plowing.

## Domestic substitution is the right time

Domestic car MCU only a few factories to discuss the output of goods, applied in the car wiper, lights, windows and other low-end application scenarios. For high-end applications such as electronic steering systems, brake systems, battery management systems, etc., only a very small number of manufacturers have the ability to ship. 

Most of the automotive-grade MCU products using 8-inch wafer production line, a small number of high-end cars with 12-inch. Global 8-inch wafer capacity expansion is slow, while the domestic fab 8-inch capacity is sufficient, and the domestic self-assembly rate of about 2%, the domestic replacement space.

## MCU chip market space

Each new energy vehicle with MCU chips at least 35 pieces, compared with the traditional car about 30% increase in demand. 

The value of pure electric vehicles is second only to power semiconductors, at 11%. Benefiting from the new energy vehicles, the demand for automotive MCU is increasing highly, and in 2021, the sales volume of automotive MCU soared 23% year-on-year to a new record of USD 7.6 billion. It is expected to reach $11.257 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of 11.34%. Among them, China's automotive MCU market size reaches $4.4 billion in 2025, with a CAGR of 15.46% from 20-25.

To sum up, although some current data show that short-term inventory is still enough, but because the main source of supply or from imports, the introduction of the chip bill is bound to be tight in the future, may not have much impact for the time being, the future if there is no sign of easing will certainly be in the market reaction. 

This is a relatively large demand for the tram, the pressure is still relatively large, so the future must pay more attention to the impact of this piece, and the domestic replacement of these chip companies are expected to only get stronger, especially to focus on the enterprises that have been rooted in this industry for a relatively long time.