Hyundai Motor to develop own chips

Hyundai Motor Company has announced it wants to go it alone and develop its own computer chips to protect itself from any future disruptions in vehicle supply.

Following on from the global shortage of semi-conductors triggered by surging demand for consumer electronics (like laptops) during the pandemic, plus COVID-related shutdowns at plants around the world, car-makers have been particularly exposed to the disruption.

Indeed, following a tough August and September, lack of a reliable chip supply forced Hyundai to suspend production at some of its factories.

The worst has now passed, according to Hyundai's global chief operating officer Jose Munoz, who told Reuters: "The (chip) industry is reacting very, very fast.

"But also in our case, we want to be able to develop our own chips within the group, so we are a little bit less dependent in a potential situation like this.

"This takes a lot of investment and time, but this is something we're working on."

Helping it develop the new chips in-house will be the firm's own car parts firm, Hyundai Mobis.

Munoz added that by the fourth quarter of this year production would be back to normal, with some of the production losses offset in 2022 by increasing the number of cars it makes.

Despite the global shortage, Hyundai, like Toyota, still managed to increase global sales in 2020.