The analysis of suppliers and their products in the semiconductor market

The work focuses on the issues surrounding the semiconductor market. The market itself was analyzed, including how semiconductor supply chains work and the problems that arise within them. Additionally, semiconductor suppliers for the automotive industry were analyzed. The theoretical part explains supply chains, various key concepts, and approaches that are important for understanding the practical part. The practical part consists of secondary and primary research. Secondary research examines the situation in the semiconductor market and analyzes semiconductor suppliers. Primary research was conducted through semi-structured interviews to gain a practical perspective on the semiconductor market and the current crisis. At the same time, information about the current situation at Škoda Auto a.s. was obtained. A significant finding is that semiconductors have a capital and technologically demanding production. For this reason, they operate on a special foundry model, where production is moved to dedicated foundries. Many semiconductor suppliers work closely with foundries, designing their own chips and then having them manufactured in the foundries. From the perspective of the automotive industry, the biggest problem is that they need old chip technologies, which are not as attractive for production compared to new technologies. The interviews revealed that there is a low level of flexibility and transparency in supply chains, which has deepened the semiconductor crisis. The formulated recommendations are to focus on agile suppliers, create an information system capable of linking information from all supplier tiers, attempt to create chip inventories, utilize new transportation routes, maintain existing strategic collaborations, and establish new ones based on the most accurate forecasts.