Hyundai Motor Seeking to Procure Chips from STMicroelectronics
Hyundai Motor Co. may suffer a disruption in the production of its electric vehicle IONIQ 5, the winner of the World Car of the Year, due to a problem with chips supplied by Germany's Infineon Technologies.
Infineon has reportedly discovered a serious defect in its insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) chips produced between early April and early June 2022 and discarded all of them. Infineon is the world’s No. 1 automotive semiconductor company.
IGBT chips are a power semiconductor device used for electric vehicles. Infineon was expected to supply the chips to Hyundai Motor beginning from this month. But the Korean automaker is unlikely to receive them because Infineon has discarded the defective products. Hyundai Motor is in talks with Infineon to prevent a disruption of its production lines.
The automaker is seeking to buy chips from another vehicle semiconductor company, STMicroelectronics, a multinational electronics and semiconductors manufacturer headquartered in Plan-les-Ouates near Geneva, Switzerland. Nevertheless, industry observers say that the Korean automaker will inevitably suffer some production disruptions.
Currently, it takes over 12 months for Hyundai Motor dealers to receive the IONIQ 5. Due to a semiconductor shortage, the delivery time could get longer.