Chip design house Gaonchips said it plans to focus on developing IPs for automotive and AI chips.
Company CEO Jung Kyu-dong said during the company’s press conference ahead of its IPO said demand for design house services from the semiconductor industry was rising as chipmakers are focusing on developing more advanced microchips.
Gaonchips is a Design Solution Partner to Samsung Electronics and assists in chip design and production with fabless companies and foundry, or contract manufacturers.
Jung said Gaonchips has an advantage in high-end process nodes under 28nm and offers more diverse solutions compared to its South Korean competitors.
The CEO said 87% of customers that use Samsung Foundry are also its customers such as Telechips, Nextchip, LX Semicon and others.
Jung said during the conference that Gaonchips was the only South Korean design house that can offer a comprehensive service that includes SoC design, production, package test and evaluation.
According to the CEO, the design house executed a total of 44 development projects last year. Nine of these will lead to chip production starting next year, which will help Gaonchips’ revenue that year, he said.
In the short to mid-term, Gaonchips is planning to focus on developing high-value IPs for automotive, AI and IoT chips, Jung said.
Out of the projects the company won last year, 75.9% were related to automotive and AI sectors, he said.
In the long-term, the company is planning to expand abroad, especially in Japan where it had customers before, the CEO said.
Japanese fabless companies usually used TSMC for foundry and Gaonchips’ expansion to Japan will allow Samsung Foundry to tap into these companies, the CEO added.
