On October 9th, it was reported that Li Auto had purchased thousands of electronic parking chips on the black market at a price of about 5,000 yuan per chip, more than 800 times the normal price!
Regarding the above information, Li Auto officials responded and said that the information is not true. The full reply is as follows:
Li Auto is indeed making every effort to ensure chip supply in the shortage situation. In the current situation of tight chip supply, all car companies will choose to purchase spot chips through normal channels to ensure supply, which is a normal industry practice. Li Auto will also make every effort to provide sufficient preparation and services for users to pick up their cars.
On September 20th, Li Auto announced that due to the delayed resumption of production of fifth-generation millimeter-wave radar chips by STMicroelectronics in Malaysia, the Q3 delivery expectation for Li ONE has been lowered.
After the chip shortage broke out, the country has cracked down on the behavior of raising the price of car chips. Several cases of selling chips at dozens of times the normal price have been severely punished, and legitimate suppliers are unlikely to act recklessly.
The industry consensus regarding the easing of the chip shortage is that it will continue to plague carmakers’ production until mid-2022.
Source: Li Auto
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.