Multinational technology company Intel is reportedly in talks to produce semiconductor chips for automakers to help alleviate the ongoing global semiconductor chip shortage, which has affected production across the automotive industry, including General Motors.
According to a recent report from Reuters, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said that the technology company was currently in talks with companies that design chips for automaker, with the intention of leveraging Intel’s factory network to begin manufacturing the chips in the next six to nine months.
“We’re hoping that some of these things can be alleviated, not requiring a three- or four-year factory build, but maybe six months of new products being certified on some of our existing processes,” Gelsinger said. “We’ve begun those engagements already with some of the key components suppliers.”
Geslinger reportedly met with White House officials this week to discuss the semiconductor supply chain. Last week, President Biden indicated that U.S. Senate leaders would soon introduce new legislation to address the ongoing shortage. In February, President Biden signed an executive order for $37 billion in funding to support semiconductor chip manufacturing in the U.S.
Recently, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing a variety of major automotive manufacturers and suppliers, including General Motors, urged the U.S. government to address the shortage, asking in a letter to build new capacity that will support the industry and mitigate risks to the supply chain.
According to the recent Reuters report, Geslinger has indicated that Intel would open its existing factory network to provide more immediate relief for auto companies impacted by the semi-conductor shortage.
Some estimates put GM’s impacted production numbers at 60,000 fewer new GM vehicles built in North America alone, with 216,000 fewer GM vehicles built globally. General Motors has indicated that the shortage could eat into its earnings this year by as much as $2 billion.
General Motors recently announced that it would idle production at its Lansing Delta Township facility in Michigan and Spring Hill Assembly facility in Tennessee as a result of the shortage. The production cuts are just the latest in a series of production impacts resulting from the shortage.
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Comments
This could be big for Intel actually, they’ve been struggling as of late with the consumer processor market, getting with the Auto Companies could be good news.
That’s what happens when you become a premium, you lose the common market. Wonder if these will be made in north america (usa/canada) to avoid global catastrophes.
I agree this could be good for them as Apple is now designing their own chips and Intel is going to lose much business.
If they do auto chips will the cars have Intel inside stickers?
Nothing’s changed, this is just advertising. Intel has been selling foundry services since 2010. Nobody wants to move to Intel’s obsolete 2014 14 nm(++++++++++) process when people like Mobileye (owned by Intel, no less) are making automotive chips on TSMC 7 nm.
7 nm vs 14 nm difference only makes sense in laptops and smartphones that inherently extremely sensitive to energy consumption due to their limited size batteries, as a matter of fact i don’t even think any 7nm chip is in use in any automotive system, you don’t need that much computing power in cars and the battery use of a chip in cars is a drop in the bucket when you compare it to the consumed energy to move two ton vehicles.
We don’t talk about SoC or CPUs here, there are multiple different systems run in a car; safety, infotainment, telematics, powertrain and body electronics and most of the chips are application specific; controllers or ASICs. By the way intel currently uses 10 nm process not 14.
No, as I said ADAS and some infotainment chips are on 7 nm today. Power is a huge issue because of cooling. Every watt eaten by a chip has to be dissipated as heat. The chips have to remain at 100 C (AEC-Q100) to 125 C (traditional automotive temperature), with passive cooling to a atmosphere that’s as high as 50-60 C (cabin on a parked car, engine bay ECU).
Laptops almost always have fans, so that’s not comparable. Your laptop needs fans going at full blast to dissipate typically 15 watts to a 20 C indoor environment just to keep the chips at 100 C.
Automakers cannot put fans on their electronics since they will go bad and get clogged with dust far before the 15-20 year lifespan of cars. Things like hybrid/EV motor drivers are tied into radiator coolant or even AC system refrigerant, but you’re not going to run a coolant line into your infotainment box. As a result, automotive electronics do need to be at smartphone levels of power consumption.
Intel’s 10 nm still has bad yield and is reserved only for high-value laptop chips. Intel announced yet another 14 nm CPU generation (Rocket Lake) two weeks ago.
I have read and seen interviews on the subject. Apparently the auto industry accounts for only about 4-5% of the entire market. It’s hard then for GM or Ford to call up and demand more attention.
Intel must be on a guilt trip; weren’t they the ones who outsourced and moved their chip production to the Aisian countries back in the nineties and early 2000’s?
Intel makes their own chips in the US and other markets, AMD is a fabless manufacture and all their chips are outsourced.
Wrong answe: Intel chips are manufactured in Oregon and Arizona but also Ireland, Israel, and China. The Dalian China factory is Intels largest manufacturing site
Intel maintains control of all those plants while AMD contracts other manufactures like TSMC to make their chips.