GlobalFoundries和福特计划共同努力提高芯片用品以支持美国汽车制造商的汽车和更广泛的美国汽车行业，因为锐利芯片短缺继续蹂躏该部门。
The companies announced Thursday a “non-binding” agreement that opens the door for Globalfoundries to boost its production capacity for chips used in Ford’s current lineup. The deal also has the potential to span research and development into several types of chips that are likely central to the car of the future, such as in-vehicle networking, self-driving, and battery management systems.
“It’s critical that we create new ways of working with suppliers” to give Ford “greater independence in delivering the technologies and features our customers will most value in the future,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said. “This agreement is just the beginning.”
The chip shortage has slammed into the auto industry this year, forcing Ford and other auto giants to curtail production. Most companies are trying to wring out more profit by funneling the chips they can procure to their most profitable models. Lead times—how long it takes between when a chip is ordered and when it is delivered to a customer—for many chips used in cars are reaching record levels: often 52 weeks or more.
经过近一年的供应链问题，芯片高管表示汽车制造商正在寻找购买零件的新方法。
Specialty Foundry
GlobalFoundries是基于美国的最大规模的芯片制造商。它适用于各种汽车供应商，如恩智浦和英飞凌。
它还制造由Qualcomm和Qorvo设计的射频芯片。它还为Broadcom和AMD构建芯片。
在CEO Tom Caulfield下，GlobalFoundries在最先进的流程节点中逐渐使用TSMC和三星的比较。它侧重于基于较少高级节点的射频IC，电源IC，电源管理IC和其他专用芯片，这对汽车行业越来越重要。由于世界各地的投资，基于这些“遗留节点”的芯片在很短的供应。
Globalfoundries has previously said that it would at least double its output of chips to the automobile sector this year and plans to increase its supply even further in 2022.
GlobalFoundries在上个月筹集了260亿美元的IPO，其价值约为260亿美元。该公司表示，它将使用所得款项来帮助未来的能力投资。据报道，GlobalFoundries通过2023年销售生产能力，计划今年投资60亿美元升级其工厂。该公司最先进的植物位于纽约市，它在欧洲和东南亚运营其他人。
然而，该公司警告说，扩展计划只会开始提升2023年的行业前端晶片供应，汽车部门将继续至少面对2022年的芯片短缺。
Auto Chip Drought
The sprawling supply chain used by the global auto industry has to coordinate the delivery of up to 30,000 parts and up to 1,500 different chips from hundreds of suppliers to assemble even a single vehicle. For the supply chain to work, the components required to finish a car have to get where they are needed when they need to get there.
Even a slight delay in the delivery of a single component can make it impossible to assemble the final vehicle.
Typically, it takes about six months from the shipment of a finished component to the vehicle’s final assembly. That is on top of the three to sixth months it takes to manufacture, package, test, and then deliver a chip to a customer. NXP, TI, Infineon, Analog Devices, Renesas, and other major vendors are struggling to fill orders from auto makers trying to replenish their chip inventories, slowing down the whole supply chain.
通过全球芯片短缺刺，汽车制造商正在采取措施，以获得更大的筹码。他们正在引起长期购买协议，并投资帮助筹码公司扩大生产能力。芯片公司已经开始偏好客户，以告诉他们他们将来需要哪些筹码。福特和其他汽车制造商正在给芯片公司看一下长期预测，因此它们可以更好地满足需求。
福特先前已经说它重新设计了具有更广泛可用的芯片以简化其生产困境。该公司还在称为是否改变其采购策略，包括直接与GlobalFoundries和TSMC等合同芯片公司签署交易。
根据FORD，其当前阵容中的大约60％的芯片基于55纳米和更少的高级节点。
Ford-Designed Chips?
Farley said the new deal with GlobalFoundries plays into Ford’s plan to vertically integrate key technologies that will “differentiate Ford far into the future,” signaling a potential move into more in-house chip design.
3月份，GlobalFoundries与Bosch合作，开发一个用于自驾车的下一代雷达和其他筹码。博世正试图通过将其知识产权直接送到铸造代替购买商品硅来区分。
福特表示，它将与GlobalFoundries合作到用于延长电动汽车电池寿命的研究芯片，在车内网络上传输数据和电力自动驱动系统。
GlobalFoundries拒绝详细介绍任何条件条款，包括福特是否提供资金或其他奖励，以便在任何当前或未来的Fab储备的保留能力。他们说，只有这笔交易不包括公司之间的任何“跨所有权”。
“我们的协议与福特的关键一步strengthening our cooperation and partnership with automakers to spur innovation, bring new features to market faster, and ensure long-term, supply-demand balance,” Caulfield said.
The auto sector is high on the priority list for GlobalFoundries. The company has started “pre-qualifying” its production lines for car chips instead of adapting technology nodes for other sectors to auto makers’ needs.
在纳入汽车之前，必须严格地测试芯片或“合格”，以保证它们可以忍受严苛的温度，振动，干扰或其他条件。
