XPeng Founder Calls for Restoring Supply of Automobile Chips

He Xiaopeng, the founder and chairman of Chinese automaker Xpeng Motors, issued comments through social media on Thursday regarding the gradual recovery of automotive supply chains amid the ongoing global shortage of computer chips.

He referenced a video, claiming that it reflected the current conditions of the firm’s supply chain team. In the video, a Pokémon Psyduck holds up hands with words reading “Urgent Needs for Chips.”

He Xiaopeng said they had carefully calculated that the absolute number of chips in a smart car exceeded 5,000, involving hundreds of different kinds of chips. But, he noted that many chips involved in this shortage were proprietary chips. Many users said they could provide resources for chips, although these chips are not in high demand. In fact, most chips in shortage are inexpensive, and they weren’t given much attention from startups, nor were they the expensive ones.

During a conference call for the firm’s Q1 financial report, He Xiaopeng stressed that there was no major problem with the capacity of those most important chips, but rather some cheap and small chips suffering from serious capacity constraints.

He said that the impact of the chip shortage on the automotive industry may take longer than expected, and would last until the end of this year or even into next year. Car companies can overcome part of the problem through long-term strategic cooperation, but the most important thing is to build up a strong self-research capability.

SEE ALSO: XPeng Motors Responds to Suspension of Remote Camera Monitoring Function

XPeng Motors delivered 9,002 units in April 2022, a year-on-year increase of 75%. From January to April this year, a total of 43,563 units were delivered, up 136% year-on-year. XPeng Motors said earlier that due to the impact of pandemic control measures, it was severely troubled by such factors as supply chain, production, logistics and transportation.