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Key suppliers including Robert Bosch and Denso are investing in chip production. Stellantis, which owns brands such as Peugeot, Fiat and Opel, said it would work with chip designers to design components. “In the past two years they call me and behave like my best friend,” he told a laughing crowd of TSMC partners and customers in Silicon Valley recently. One automaker called to urgently request 25 wafers, said Wei, who is used to fielding orders for 25,000 wafers. “No wonder you cannot get the support.”
Working closer with car makers and their suppliers has brought Onsemi nearly €4 billion in long-term agreements for power management chips made from silicon carbide, a new material gaining popularity, said chief executive Hassane El-Khoury. “We’re making billions of dollars of investment every year in order to scale that operation,” he said. “We’re not going to build factories on hope.”
“They have woken up,” said NXP boss Kurt Sievers. “They have understood what it takes. They try to find the right talent. It’s a big shift.”