By Nick Carey
LONDON (Reuters) - Stellantis said on Tuesday that it has signed contracts worth 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) through 2030 with semiconductor makers to guarantee the flow of vital chips for electric vehicles and high-performance computing functions.
The global auto industry is only now recovering from a pandemic-fueled shortage of semiconductor chips that forced major automakers to shut down production on certain models and scramble to find new sources of chips.
"We have hundreds of very different semiconductors in our cars," Maxime Picat, Stellantis' chief purchasing and supply chain officer said in a statement. "We have built a comprehensive ecosystem to mitigate the risk that one missing chip can stop our lines."
Stellantis said it is also working with chipmakers Infineon, NXP (NASDAQ:NXPI) Semiconductors, onsemi, and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) to further improve its car platforms and technologies.
The world's No. 3 carmaker said that its new supply agreements through 2030 cover silicon carbide chips that extend the range of EVs, computing chips to operate EVs and high-performance computing chips that will provide infotainment and autonomous driving assist functions.
($1 = 0.8905 euros)