Automakers around the world have spent most of the past year grappling with semiconductor shortages, which have led automakers, including Ford and General Motors, to cut production.

Most companies have used the chips they can get for their most profitable models, prompting carmakers to explore ways to increase chip utilization.

Because everything from heated seats to infotainment systems needs to be controlled by chips, in the case of a shortage of chips, some carmakers produce cars without chips and wait for the chips to arrive and finally deliver them to customers; other carmakers choose to deliver "castrated" vehicles to customers that do not have some usual functions.

With the emergence of complex driver assistance systems such as new electric vehicles and UltraCruise, the demand for semiconductors has more than doubled in the new years.

In the face of the plight of "lack of core" that can not be bought and cannot be bought, Ford and GM began to "PUBG" and threw themselves into the field of chip manufacturing one after another.

Ford and GM announced their foray into chip manufacturing on the same day.

November eighteenthFord and chipmaker GlobalFoundries (GFS.US) announced plans to jointly develop and produce high-end chips to increase the supply of chips for Ford and the US auto industry, but failed to provide details of the partnership.

The two companies announced a non-binding agreement that could involve increasing the production capacity of Ford's current product line and jointly developing several key chips for future cars that are mainly used in battery management systems and self-driving systems.

The strategic partnership does not involve cross-shareholdings between companies. Chuck Gray, vice president of Ford, said: "We hope that Ford and GlobalFoundries will work together in a more formal manner to increase the supply of chips to support our current and future chip demand."

At the same time, General Motors Co also said at the investor meeting that the company aims to solve the global shortage of semiconductors through innovation.

GM is working with seven chip suppliers to develop three new series of microcontrollers, which will reduce the number of specific chips on cars by 95 per cent in the future, said Mark Reuss, president of General Motors Co.

Supplier partners include Qualcomm Inc, STMicroelectronics, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, Renesas, NXP, Infineon and on Semiconductor.

Reuss said its homemade chips would integrate some of the functions now handled by a single chip, reduce production costs and complexity, and improve the quality and predictability of the chips.

It is reported that in addition to the two companies, Volkswagen and other major automakers have also joined the bureau, saying that they plan to design their own self-driving chips.