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By Yashasvini Razdan, 3:45 PM ET
Tesla CEO Elon Musk singled out two auto chip suppliers, Renesas and Bosch, as the “most problematic” when it came to delivery of standard automotive chips.
In a tweet reply to Cathie Wood, CEO, Ark Investment, Musk said that the electric car maker’s supply was being restricted by the two automotive chip suppliers.
“Tesla makes cars for export in first half of quarter & for local market in second half. As previously disclosed, we are operating under extreme supply chain limitations regarding certain ‘standard’ automotive chips. Most problematic by far are Renesas & Bosch,” he tweeted.
Musk was replying to Tesla investor, Wood, who had earlier explained Tesla’s numbers in China via a tweet. “Tesla seems to understand that China would like local champions to dominate electric vehicles (EV) sales inside the country but is pleased that Tesla is exporting from China high-quality/high-end EVs, especially to Europeans whose standards for fit-finish-design are quite high.”
Tesla delivered 8,998 vehicles in China in July, but it also exported over 20,000 electric vehicles produced out of Gigafactory Shanghai for a total output of 32,968 vehicles in July. The company had also attributed the constraint in its vehicle production, to the global chip shortage while reporting its earnings for 2Q.
Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corp. has previously been called out for a fire at its factory in Tokyo, by Ford, as a major risk to its production schedules earlier this year. Meanwhile, Germany’s Robert Bosch GmbH has been called out for holding up vehicle output.
Reuters reported in January that Volkswagen AG discussed with major suppliers including Bosch about a potential damage claim, related to the semiconductor shortage.
To soften the blow due to the global semiconductor shortage, Tesla has now started using more microcontrollers in its products. The electric vehicle manufacturer has to rewrite the firmware to adapt to the new hardware when using new chips and microcontrollers.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
Picture Credits: Tesla