DB Hitek is close to clinching a ten-year contract to manufacture power management ICs that will go into Tesla vehicles, TheElec has learned.
Staff overseeing quality control for chips for the US carmaker had visited DB Hitek’s facility at Bucheon, South Korea back in June for an inspection.
Following this visit, DB Hitek got the first approval notification in August.
Tesla has been performing tests with vehicles that use the power management ICs manufactured by the South Korean foundry since early September.
There has been no quality issue from the chips and DB Hitek is expected to get the final approval, which will be decided in October.
The South Korean foundry is manufacturing 130-nanometer BCD power management IC. Its BCD process allows for bipolar, CMOS, and DMOS transistors to be combined into one chip and this process is mainly used to manufacture power management ICs.
DB Hitek’s power management ICs will be used in the electronic control unit (ECU) of Tesla vehicles. The chip provides 120 volts of power for the ECU and each vehicle carries between three to four ECUs.
The design of the PMIC was made by China Resources Microelectronics, a Chinese semiconductor company listed on the Shanghai bourse.
China Resources Microelectronics is planning to form a joint venture in the US with a local company and buy the contract-manufactured ICs from DB Hitek before supplying them to Tesla. Which US company is forming a joint venture with could not be confirmed by TheElec.
If the contract gets the final approval, it will be a major win for DB Hitek and open doors for it to secure new major automakers as customers.
