Hyundai Mobis to strengthen partnerships to build automotive chip ecosystem

SEOUL, October 21 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Mobis, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor, announced plans on Wednesday to bolster collaborations with local firms in order to develop a domestic automotive semiconductor ecosystem. The company unveiled its strategy to create an extensive semiconductor supply chain, encompassing chip design and software development, all the way through manufacturing, testing, and mass production.

At the second Auto Semicon Korea (ASK) forum in Bundang, south of Seoul, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Motor, and LG Electronics formed an automotive semiconductor task force with the goal of strengthening South Korea's domestic supply chain, reducing reliance on imported chips, and expediting the commercialization of domestically-developed technologies.

Lee Gyu-suk, Hyundai Mobis' CEO, revealed that the company will actively share its accumulated expertise in the automotive semiconductor industry. He emphasized the importance of building a comprehensive cooperation framework that harnesses each company's strengths, supporting the entire process, from development, testing, to mass production. This approach seeks to alleviate the high entry barriers typically faced by individual companies in the automotive semiconductor sector.

The initiative aligns with Hyundai Mobis' strategy to shift from developing standalone chips to establishing a demand-driven ecosystem, connecting semiconductor manufacturers and automakers across various stages of development and production. As part of this strategy, Hyundai Mobis plans to strengthen ties with domestic chip designers, foundries, and testing institutions, with a focus on creating semiconductors tailored to the unique requirements of electric vehicles, software-defined vehicles (SDVs), and autonomous driving systems.

Presently, Hyundai Mobis manufactures 16 distinct types of in-house-developed system semiconductors, including chips utilized for power management, motor control, communications, sensing, and data processing. The company's annual production of these semiconductors stands at approximately 20 million units, achieved through external foundries.