Chipmakers warn AI demand is creating bottlenecks in automotive supply chain

Dutch chipmaker Nexperia is "totally oversubscribed" as suppliers divert manufacturing capacity toward fast-growing AI data centres and away from the mature chips used in cars and industrial equipment, interim CEO Stefan Tilger told Reuters at the Electronica trade fair in Munich on Tuesday.

Tilger said some competitors had shifted capacity away from the commodity semiconductors supplied by Nexperia, creating bottlenecks in parts of the automotive supply chain.

"The automotive industry is suffering at the moment quite heavily," he said in an interview.

STMicroelectronics CEO Jean-Marc Chery warned on Monday that foundries and chip-packaging companies were increasingly shifting resources away from products used in automotive and industrial applications.

"We see many bottlenecks," Chery said at a CEO panel ahead of the conference on Monday.

The comments add to evidence that the AI investment boom is creating bottlenecks elsewhere in the semiconductor supply chain, as manufacturers prioritise higher-margin products linked to data centres and artificial intelligence.

Some foundries and assembly and packaging firms that previously served a broad range of customers "are disengaging ... from mainstream technology", he said.

Tilger said demand from AI data centres and robotics was absorbing capacity, while investment in the mature technologies used for diodes, transistors and other basic components had lagged for years.

Nexperia specialises in high-volume, low-cost semiconductors used primarily in vehicles and industrial equipment. Unlike larger rivals such as STMicroelectronics, it has a narrower product range focused on mature-node components.

Chery said ST's own manufacturing footprint offered some protection from supply constraints.

"We control a part of our future with our CapEx and our manufacturing," he said.
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