Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm: The largest and most valuable chip companies in the world are increasingly entering business with the automotive industry. The opportunity is opportune, with boardroom doors wide open to US corporations. Whether BMW, Mercedes or Volkswagen – the car brands lack the know-how to convert their vehicles into those rolling computers that the market and customers will demand in the future.
In the short term, the car manufacturers therefore have no choice, they are dependent on the semiconductor companies for automated and electric driving. At the same time, however, they must immediately start building up as much chip knowledge as possible in-house.
If they rely permanently on the semiconductor companies, they face the same fate as computer manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers. Acer, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo were once popular names. In the eyes of consumers, however, most PC manufacturers are now completely interchangeable because they all use the same components. The situation is not much different with mobile phones.
Only the iPhone manufacturer Apple stands out from the monotony. This is not least due to the fact that the Californians, in contrast to the competition, developed their own chips early and consistently. Not only are they more powerful than off-the-shelf components. They also enable unique software.
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Therefore, car manufacturers should take Apple as an example. Step by step, the Silicon Valley group broke away from what was once the central supplier Intel, the leading processor manufacturer for PCs and notebooks.
Despite enormous resources, this took many years, even at Apple. The car brands must therefore not waste any more time. Especially since the electric car pioneer Tesla has relied on its own chip expertise from the start – and is thus ahead of the competition.
More: Business worth billions is tempting: US chip giants are pressuring German car companies