This Week in Engineering explores the latest in engineering from academia, government and industry.
Episode Summary:
With much of the world’s auto industry now crippled by a serious shortage of integrated circuits, the search for a solution to the dual problems of Covid related supply chain breakdown and limited global foundry capacity is on, in earnest. The stakes are high, with some analysts estimating that production of popular models could be cut by 1/3, with billions of dollars in lost revenue. Samsung, already a major foundry and contract manufacturer for fabless IC firms, has chosen central Texas for a very large facility that will likely produce single digit nanometre scale devices. While this will stabilize supply in the future, best estimates of facility start up are about two years, typical for large, complex foundry operations. Auto shortages may persist.
While integrated circuits are an immediate problem for the auto industry, finding ways to make electric vehicles affordable and profitable is a larger, longer-term issue. General Motors has announced a new technical center in Warren, Michigan for cell and battery development that will include manufacturing techniques for use in GM plants and at GM/LG joint-venture operations in Tennessee and Ohio. Targets are aggressive, a 60% reduction in battery cost compared to GM’s current generation Ultium devices. The research center will encompass all aspects of cell and battery production, from basic chemistry to fabrication and durability testing.
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Transcript of this week’s show:
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Segment 1: The global integrated circuit shortage has crippled auto production everywhere, and as the Covid crisis show signs of improving, demand for cars and light trucks is increasing. But dealer inventories for many popular models are minimal, and incomplete vehicles are piling up in assembly plant storage lots all over America due the shortage of critical integrated circuits. Covid-19 again is the cause, as the IC industry reacted to the sudden drop in vehicle demand by switching operations to personal electronic device components for smart phones, tablets and the rapidly increasing number of smart wearable devices. More chips are on the way, however.
Samsung Electronics is rumored to be ready to invest $17 billion in Taylor, Texas for a massive semiconductor operation the firm calls the “Star Project”, according to an inside source quoted by Korean media outlet the JoongAng Ilbo. The Central Texas project is expected to operate 6,000,000 ft.² of facilities, making it three times larger than Samsung’s existing manufacturing plant in Austin. Although not officially announced by Williamson County officials, over $300 million in tax breaks over the next 10 years have been tentatively approved. Construction is expected to begin in 2022, with operations starting two years later.
The company had considered other locations including New York, Arizona and a plant close to Samsung’s existing Austin operations. The Austin operations were noteworthy for the shutdown of the plant in February during the Texas winter power crisis. Over 50% of the world’s advanced semiconductors are manufactured in Taiwan, led by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, TSMC.
The limiting factor for production in the semiconductor industry is foundry operations. Many integrated circuit makers are “fabless”, meaning they design and market chips which are contract manufactured by others. The new Samsung facility will be a foundry, and like Austin, will likely manufacture very high-density single digit nanometer gate devices, probably alongside 14 nm technology as used in Austin.
As a foundry, Samsung makes devices for many customers and many industries, and automotive integrated circuits usually don’t require the highest densities or lowest power consumption, making this market ideal for pre-existing lines as high-performance demands from smart phone and personal electronics makers push the foundries into newer technologies.
With renewed interest from companies like Apple in US-based manufacturing however, automakers will still be working in a seller’s market for semiconductors for the foreseeable future. Two years is a long time to wait.
Segment 2: Another area of automotive technology that won’t wait is advanced batteries. General Motors has announced a new facility designed to significantly expand the company’s battery technology operations. Called the Wallace Center, the operation will be built on the campus of GM’s Global Technical Center in Warren Michigan. The center will be used for advanced battery and cell development and to integrate devices developed by GM affiliated companies.
The primary goal of the facility is to achieve battery cost reductions of at least 60% compared to the current generation of GM Ultium batteries. Technologies expected to be prominent include lithium metal, silicon and solid-state. GM expects to develop new generation cells in form factors at 1 m scale, about double the size of current Ultium pouch cells.
The location in Warren will allow the new center to easily collaborate with current battery research programs run at GM’s Research and Development Chemical and Materials’ Subsystems Lab and the Estes Battery Systems Lab, the largest battery validation lab in North America at more than 100,000 square feet. This will allow in-house durability testing of cells, modules and entire battery packs.
Besides battery technology, the center will also develop battery manufacturing techniques for GM plants as well as the company’s joint ventures with LG Energy Solutions in Lordstown Ohio and Spring Hill Tennessee.
The company holds 2000 EV related patents, and expects to use 60 patents and trade secrets and another 46 patents pending in lithium-metal electrolytes, anodes, cathodes and binders. The development of very large format cells may prove pivotal.
Most major battery makers focus on devices for personal electronics and so far, technologies aimed at increasing energy density have been developed primarily for that market. Will automotive very large-scale cells operate outside conventional scaling laws and emerge as unique chemistries and production technologies?
With all major automakers now either developing battery technology in-house, or partnering with firms that do, it’s clear that OEMs are unwilling to risk dependence on the Tier One supply chain to deliver batteries. The winning technology may define which automakers survive in the first half the 21st century.
