Connected Car
Volkswagen has begun purchasing strategically important chips it believes will be in short supply globally directly from 10 manufacturers including NXP Semiconductors, Infineon Technologies and Renesas Electronics the carmaker said on Wednesday. Demand for chips has risen dramatically in the car industry in line with electric vehicle production and the need for increasingly complex software. Volkswagen and Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics announced plans last July to co-develop a new semiconductor, marking VW's first direct relationship with a second- and third-rank semiconductor supplier. Volkswagen has not struck a direct supply relationship with TSMC - the world's biggest contract manufacturer of semiconductors - but meets with them every few weeks to communicate its demand situation, Schnake said. The carmaker also plans to reduce the variety of chips required in its vehicles to simplify the supply chain, which will also help simplify its software offering, Schnake added.