Hyundai turns to local firms for chips to diversify supply chain

It wants to shift some auto chip orders to domestic firms after facing a shortage as most of its suppliers are foreign.

Hyundai Motor Group is in talks with South Korean chip companies to help it reduce reliance on foreign supplies amid a global shortage that has halted assembly lines at automakers around the world, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Hyundai officials have met with local “fabless” firms – which design chips but outsource manufacturing to the likes of TSMC and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd – as it explores long-term strategies to better diversify its supply chain, according to two people at local fabless firms who met with Hyundai. The South Korean auto group wants to shift some of its auto chip orders such as microcontroller units (MCUs) to South Korean designers, but technology there still lags industry leaders such as Dutch automotive chip supplier NXP Semiconductors and Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corp, according to the people.