Targeting a full-scale overseas automakers after entering the domestic market.
Achieving excellent technologies such as autofocus and stabilization
Securing a stable mass production line for foundry h
Dongwoon Anatech supplied haptic driver integrated circuits (ICs) for Hyundai Motor’s top of the line models. This is evaluated that automotive semiconductors have become a new axis for the company's new driving force. Dongwoon Anatech expands its business area to overseas, and expands its customer base while simultaneously expanding its portfolio of vehicle semiconductor products.
Dongwoon Anatech succeeded in supplying two haptic ICs to the recently launched Hyundai Motor Genesis G90’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioner (HAVC). Vehicle-use haptic ICs are semiconductors that are used to give off minuscule vibration in order to verify when various buttons are being pressed. Starting with the 2020 Genesis G80, Hyundai Motor has been equipped with Dongwoon Anatech haptic ICs in the GV80 and GV60, and the G90. Dongwoon Anatech expects that the number of car interfaces to which haptic technology is applied will increase in the future. The possibility of applying up to 10 haptic ICs per vehicle is expected.
Beating out global semiconductor companies, Dongwoon Anatech's technological prowess played a part in its success in supplying the top of the line Genesis models. The company is developing a haptic IC business for vehicles in partnership with Immersion, which possesses haptic source technology, along with the technology accumulated through the development of smart phone autofocus, stablizer, and haptic semiconductors.
Securing excellent contract production partnerships has been a key to a competitive advantage. Recently, a foundry bottleneck has occurred due to a shortage of semiconductors for vehicles. It is a situation in which automobile production is disrupted due to shortage in supply of semiconductor products to automakers in a timely manner. Dongwoon Anatech has stably secured a foundry mass production line that can respond to customer demand from last year to this year. It is able to supply even if the order quantity increases.
Dong-chul Kim, CEO of Dongwoon Anatech, said, “Automotive semiconductors require higher reliability than general products, meaning they should not only be able to be provided, but also with a stable supply chain.
Dongwoon Anatech is targeting not only the domestic market but also the U.S. and European automobile markets with higher competitiveness. Last year, the company won an order to supply haptic ICs to a North American electric vehicle company, which will be applied to mass-produced vehicles in 2023. It is also discussing the supply of haptic ICs with famous European electronic part companies. Dongwoon Anatech has signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and is negotiating the quantity and timing of delivery. It is understood that considerable discussions have already taken place. If this contract is signed, Dongwoon Anatech is expected to enter the European automobile market properly. References to the supply to the high-end models such as the Genesis 90 have been effective in business expansion.
Dongwoon Anatech plans to take this supply as an opportunity to potentially make automotive semiconductors a new future business. It will diversify the portfolio of semiconductor products for vehicles other than haptic ICs. A typical example is a semiconductor for a time-of-flight (TOF) sensor that can collect and analyze various information inside a vehicle. Dongwoon Anatech is conducting TOF semiconductor R&D. It also signed a strategic alliance with SOS Lab, a domestic lidar company, to develop autonomous driving and industrial lidar.
CEO Kim said, “In addition to semiconductors for smartphones, we will make an achievement for automobiles as well. It will be an opportunity for the company to take a new leap forward.”
By Staff Reporter Dong-jun Kwon (djkwon@etnews.com)