The chip shortage currently facing the global automotive industry is mainly caused by production disruptions at semiconductor factories in Malaysia due to a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the packaging and testing capacities of international giants such as STMicroelectronics and Infineon significantly impacted. As a global hub for semiconductor packaging and testing, Malaysia accounts for 13% of the world's market share. The current chip delivery cycle has extended to 26.5 weeks (about half a year), far higher than the traditional 6-9 week level, and the price of MCU chips has soared more than 10 times compared to last year. Although the Malaysian government has gradually relaxed factory operation restrictions and increased the vaccination rate, industry associations predict that the chip shortage will last at least until the end of 2026. In the short term, automakers still need to adjust their inventory strategies (e.g., Toyota has extended its chip inventory cycle from 3 months to 5 months) to cope with supply chain pressure. Local automotive brands have been less affected due to their smaller procurement scales, but fluctuations in the global supply chain have still led to the extension of delivery cycles for some models to more than 2 months and a narrowing of terminal discount margins. In the long run, chip capacity expansion is constrained by equipment shortages, and the industry needs to rebuild supply chain resilience to deal with similar crises.
