Hyundai is considering making its own computer chips for autonomous cars, which the company expects will be readily available by 2030, according to Bloomberg.
The South Korean automaker, which is already preparing its cars with semi-autonomous technology, says the technology could be vital to car making in the future. Hyundai buys its autonomous driving-related technology from a supplier, but the director of the automaker’s automotive control system development group didn’t specify the company from which Hyundai buys the technology hardware.
Hyundai’s announcement could be competition for Silicon Valley giants such as Google and Apple that are developing autonomous driving technologies to be licenced (Google) or possibly their own cars (Apple). Hyundai developing its own chips could be a way to keep the automaker from becoming merely a sheet metal provider to autonomous car technology makers.
According to Bloomberg, the average new car has $333 worth of chips in it, an 11-percent increase in the past four years.
On Monday, chipmaker NXP completed its $12 billion purchase of processor-maker Freescale to create the world’s largest automotive chip-making company, according to Reuters.
Analysts expect that growth in automotive chips will significantly outpace the rest of the electronics industry in the next few years as cars are stuffed with more technology.
Hyundai has been making chips for decades. The Hyundai name is synonymous with many industries in South Korea.
Hyundai spun the chips business off several years back. What was once Hyundai Semiconductor is now part of SK Hynix. SK Hynix also includes the former LG (Lucky Goldstar) Semiconductor business.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SK_Hynix
Hynix
Korea probably wants independence from JP US or EU semiconductor manufacturers for auto silicon.
Did I hear that right? 2030?
They are probably better off license a design from all those IP companies out there and outsource the production to a foundry (TSMC, Charter, Samsung) instead.