Hyundai Mobis develops engine control semiconductor 

Hyundai Mobis has succeeded in the development of engine control integrated semiconductor, a company engineer said.

The company is also reviewing potential development of a high voltage power management IC that can withstand 1500V.

Hyundai Mobis has been collaborating with an oversea chip firm to develop automotive semiconductors, Lee Hee-hyun, leader of the company’s high performance semiconductor cell team said at a workshop held in South Korea.

The U-chip packs in functions of multiple chips for power, monitoring and activation, he said.

The company was also reviewing developing power management ICs that withstand 700V and 1500V.

Power management ICs are used in onboard chargers, controllers and inverters and the company expects more of them to be in demand going forward, he said.

Electric cars and hydrogen fuel-cell cars require chips that can measure the voltage and temperature of their batteries, Lee said.

A hybrid car will require around 10 chipsets __ Hyundai Motor’s Ioniq 5 requires 16. This number will only grow for future models, he said.

According to the Hyundai Mobis engineer, around 50% of the circuits on an automotive semiconductor for their native functions and require additional circuits for safety and other functions, unlike mobile semiconductors that has 80% to 90% of its circuits for its native function. This makes making automotive semiconductors that much harder, he said.

Hyundai Mobis has the competence to overcome this challenge, he stressed.

The company was also reviewing the potential to develop an autonomous driving sensor that can monitor the driver and sensors that incorporate ultrasound, radar and lidar, he added.