Hyundai Mobis Advances Korea’s Automotive Semiconductor Collaboration

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Hyundai Mobis, which has led the way in building Korea's automotive semiconductor ecosystem, is expanding collaboration between the mobility and semiconductor industries to the full range of related sectors, from development to mass production. The company plans to build on the automotive semiconductor forum it launched last year to bring more Korean-made semiconductors into actual development. It also aims to get a system fully up and running in which automakers, parts suppliers, semiconductor companies, and research institutes work together from development through verification to mass production.

Hyundai Mobis held its second automotive semiconductor forum, Auto Semicon Korea (ASK), at DoubleTree by Hilton Seoul Pangyo in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, on the 21st. Hyundai Mobis first launched ASK last year as a collaboration platform to make Korea's automotive semiconductor industry more competitive and strengthen its supply chain base. It brings together the capabilities of the automotive and semiconductor industries, including automakers, parts suppliers, fabless companies, foundries, and design houses.

The event drew more than 90 attendees, including Hyundai Mobis President Lee Gyu-suk, CEO-level leaders and other executives from major companies, and representatives from government, academia, and industry associations. This year, the forum extended collaboration into fields such as IP (design intellectual property), testing and evaluation, and functional safety, bringing the number of participating companies and institutions to 53, up from 27 last year. Building on the groundwork laid over the past year, ASK is now moving on to more advanced stages of development and commercialization.

The event opened with a welcome address by President Lee Gyu-suk and a congratulatory speech from Minister of Trade, Industry Kim Jung-kwan. The address was followed by an update on ASK's achievements over the past year and the launch ceremony of a task force on automotive semiconductor localization, led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai Mobis, and LG Electronics. Participants then shared information and discussed a range of agenda items, including competitiveness in localizing system semiconductors, next-generation power semiconductor development, government policy, and automaker roadmaps.

President Lee said, "As a company that uses automotive semiconductors, Hyundai Mobis will actively share the wide range of know-how it has accumulated. We will connect each company's strengths and build a full-cycle collaboration structure in which we share responsibility from development through verification to mass production, so that no individual company has to bear the high barriers to entry in automotive semiconductors on its own."

Since launching ASK last year, Hyundai Mobis has worked with Korean companies to identify 19 collaboration projects in system semiconductors, and development is now underway on 13 chips from that list. For 9 of those 13, the company has gone a step further and selected the vehicle models the chips are intended for. In power semiconductors, it has also begun joint reviews to raise development capabilities, quality, and mass-production competitiveness.

Ahead of the main event, President Lee held a media briefing with major news outlets, where he emphasized, "Whereas last year's first forum focused on finding opportunities to extend Korean companies' home appliance, mobile, and industrial semiconductor technologies to automotive applications and develop them jointly, this year we will move into a more advanced stage as we confirm the potential for actual product development, vehicle application, and commercialization."

From design and manufacturing to software, IP, and verification… toward a "full-cycle ecosystem" for automotive semiconductors

This year, Hyundai Mobis plans to develop ASK into a full-cycle collaboration ecosystem covering the entire automotive semiconductor development process. The aim is to build a structure that ties together every stage of development, from software, IP, foundry, and packaging to testing and evaluation, functional safety, and quality. The company also plans to share automaker demand and technology roadmaps from the earliest stages of development, helping Korean semiconductor companies align their technology development and investment with real-world vehicle applications.

"We will proactively establish requirements and technology roadmaps for key future semiconductors from a system and controller perspective," said Park Chul-hong, Vice President and Head of Hyundai Mobis' Semiconductor Business. "By working closely with automakers at an early stage to define functions, quality standards, deployment timelines, and target vehicle models, we aim to strengthen a demand-driven development framework that carries semiconductor technologies through validation and mass production to real business results."

Developing semiconductors and controllers together, strengthening the "demand-driven collaboration" unique to Hyundai Mobis

Hyundai Mobis holds a strategic position as a Tier 1 supplier that uses automotive semiconductors directly while also designing semiconductors in-house and co-developing them with external specialist companies. Its advantage lies in building the performance and quality automakers require into semiconductor specifications, verifying the resulting chips at the controller and vehicle level, and carrying them through to mass production.

Hyundai Mobis also continues to strengthen its own competitiveness in automotive semiconductors. Since acquiring Hyundai Autron's semiconductor business in 2020, it has expanded its R&D portfolio around two pillars: power semiconductors and system semiconductors. It is increasing the number of in-house-designed semiconductors in mass production while pursuing a strategy of developing semiconductors optimized for core components in areas such as electrification and automotive electronics.

In power semiconductors, the company is focusing on making the electrification value chain, from power semiconductors to power modules, inverters, motors, and PE (power electric) systems, more competitive. In system semiconductors, it has also built up its capabilities in designing chips that perform various controller functions, such as power supply, actuation, communication, sensing, and networking. As a result, Hyundai Mobis is mass-producing 16 types of in-house-developed system semiconductors through external foundries, with a combined annual volume of 20 million units. These include chips for power supply, actuation, communication, sensors, and data processing.

Hyundai Mobis sees ASK as more than a forum for sharing information. Its blueprint is a platform that drives change by turning demand into projects, projects into development, development into mass production, and then into concrete business results for participating semiconductor companies. A follow-up consultative body will assign owners and schedules to the projects presented at this forum and manage their progress on an ongoing basis. Alongside this, the company will work with the government to build the policies and infrastructure that will support the development of Korean-made automotive semiconductors.