ITM supplies battery protection circuit for IQOS e-cigarette.
Company also does battery pack assembly for Philip Morris
ITM Semiconductor have supplied battery production circuits for IQOS e-cigarettes produced by Philip Morris.
The Korean company had been producing the circuits for IQOS 3 in its factory in Vietnam since the second half of 2020, people familiar with the matter said.
ITM Semiconductor is also doing battery pack assembly for Philip Morris. The company receives 18650 battery cells and assembly them with protection circuit and packs, the people said.
Philip Morris has previously used MinebeaMitsumi for protection circuit and pack assembly. It had procured batter cells from Panasonic. ITM was using LG Energy Solution’s battery cells.
IQOS 3 used protection module pcakage. MOSFET and the printed circuit board are combined, reducing the size of the protection circuit. Battery capacity is also 10% higher, from 2900mAh to 3300mAh.
ITM’s sales mainly come from small battery protection circuits and packs used in smartphones, tablets and wireless earphones.
It is expanding to e-cigarettes as well as electric vehicle, e-scooters and energy storage systems to find new growth engines.
It is developing system-in-package for small batteries that can be used for e-cigarette and notebooks.
It is planning to start original design manufacturer operations for e-cigarette in the second half of 2021.