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◇ Facility investments to secure the power semiconductor market for automotive electronics and to meet market demandsKEC (CEO Hwang, Changseop) officially announced on October 14th that it decided to issue convertible bonds worth 40 billion won to finance its facilities and operational expenditures. The CB will have 5 years to maturity with the coupon rate and maturity rate at ‘0’ and the lowest limit (downward adjustment of conversion rights) for refixing to 80. Although the terms are not favorable for the investors, such decision was made on the judgment that the issuer has high growth potential. The investors’ decisions are more or less understandable considering the recent moves by KEC. The company has been strengthening its automotive electronics semiconductor business, such as acquiring approval of the parts for Tesla’s cars and entering into the automotive HAVC market. It will also be supplying its Super-Junction MOSFET, a power semiconductor, to leading home appliance companies in Korea. KEC is transforming itself from mainly dealing with small-signal product line ups to include high added-value automotive electronics and power semiconductors.  According to a company official, KEC is diversifying its markets and products based on the ‘Vision 2025 mid-to long-term plan,’ announced on the 50th anniversary of its founding in 2019. With regards to the plan, KEC investors decided to actively participate in the investments based on their high assessment of the company’s future value and positive view on the firm’s transformation and investments in automotive electronics and power semiconductors.  The official also remarked that KEC will utilize the finances to invest in facilities for developing and mass-producing automotive electronics and power semiconductors and secure outstanding core engineering and marketing experts, thereby extending its product and business portfolios to step up as a global power semiconductor company. 

◇ Establish foothold to lead the localization of automotive HVAC components and enter into the global automotive electronics semiconductor market◇ KEC’s new LV MOSFET receives AEC-Q certification, the standard for evaluating the reliability of automotive electronics components, and stronger in durability and stability KEC (CEO Hwang Changseop) scaled up its Low Voltage MOSFET (hereafter LV MOSFET) product lineup to expand its share in the automotive HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) market.A partner supplying air conditioning systems to a leading domestic automobile manufacturer approved KEC’s LV MOSFET (KFS70N06K) and the remaining three major companies are currently conducting verification for approval. Thus, the new product is expected to be applied to around 80% of domestic automobiles produced annually (as of 2019). The automotive HVAC system is a device that makes the air inside the automobiles pleasant through the internal and external airflow and cooling water circulation. KEC’s KFS70N06K will be applied to the Blower Motor, which is the core of the HVAC system. The new KFS70N06K has improved durability and stability; received AEC-Q certification for assessing the reliability of automotive electronic components; expanded its Safe Operating Area by around 50% than its competitor products; and satisfies the rated temperature of 175℃ at maximum, thereby acting as the key to maintain the durability of automobiles. The product also adopted the TO-247 package to maximize heat-releasing characteristics. Nam-Kyu Park, General Manager of KEC, mentioned, “While most of the parts used in the HVAC Blower Motor in domestic automobiles were foreign-made until now, our new product will enable localization of the parts. KEC’s expansion into the automotive HVAC market will serve as a steppingstone to increase our market share in automotive semiconductors and to advance into the global automobile market.”In accordance with the mid-to long-term vision KEC declared on the 50th anniversary of its founding in 2019, the company is acting fast to take a leap into a global company specializing in power semiconductors. As the automotive electronics semiconductor is KEC’s primary field of business, the firm expects an increase in its sales through active partnerships with manufacturers of global electric vehicles and existing vehicles with internal combustion engines, and speeding up to obtain approval of its products. In addition, KEC is exerting efforts to extend its portfolio in preparation for the future market areas such as 5G network/server, new renewable energy, wearable IoT and others. [About KEC]Established as KEC Holdings in 1969, KEC is a company specializing in semiconductors that has a history as old as that of the Korean electronic industry. In 2006, the semiconductor manufacturing division was newly founded as KEC through a spin-off. The company has been cooperating with leading home appliance and automobile manufacturers in Korea in the field of non-memory power semiconductor and is expanding exports to China, Japan and the US. In order to secure the automotive electronic power semiconductor market and respond to the rapidly changing market demands, the firm recently made investments in the process for manufacturing 8-inch IGBT (power semiconductor) and small electronics semiconductor parts in its Gumi Factory, and built next generation assembly pilot lines in its overseas production bases to be prepared for the automobile and industrial markets with the goal to become a leading global power semiconductor company.

◇ Localization of the automobile parts technologies through the release of 3 phase MOSFET driver equipped with integrated regulator◇ KEC transforms into an integrated solution provider dealing with products from discrete semiconductors to Integrated Circuits (IC)◇ New products will be offered to general home appliances using motors and further to the industrial marketKEC (CEO, Hwang Chang-seop) announced that it is entering the IC business in full-scale with its own automobile and industrial gate driver IC (Gate Driver Integrated Circuit) products. KEC succeeded in realizing the core technology of gate driver ICs required by global automakers through the new product, proving its development capabilities. The company is transforming into an integrated solution provider of discrete semiconductors and ICs in the future. The released product is a 3-phase MOSFET Driver with Integrated Regulator, which controls the power of the motor driver of the automobile engine oil pump and water pump to be stable at all times. This is expected to contribute greatly to the localization of parts in the domestic automobile market, which is entirely dependent on foreign semiconductors at present. The product also secured both the high level of reliability (AEC-Q100) and mass production required for the automobile engine room.The 3-phase MOSFET driver (KIB2040QN) uses the QFN-28 package, and the internal LDO voltage is designed in two types, 3.3V and 5.0V, for customers’ convenience. The driver can control 6 power MOSFETs at once, stably controlling the motor power and signals at all times. As it is competitive in performance compared to products of advanced foreign companies, and has been proven its outstanding reliability for electric vehicles, the promotional activities are targeting domestic and overseas electric vehicles together. In addition to automobiles, the driver is applicable for various motors such as industrial power tools (e-Tool), air compressors, and vacuum cleaners.With the global market for gate driver ICs projected to grow at a CAGR (annual average growth rate) of 6.3% and a market size of $2 billion by 2025, KEC announced its plans to increase its global market share, sales, and profits by expanding into the general home appliances using motors and industrial device markets in addition to the automobile market. Nam-Kyu Park, General Manager of KEC, said, “KEC has a solid business infrastructure that has been built for over 50 years in the semiconductor market. With this full-fledged launch of the new gate drive ICs for automobiles, we have entered the stage of providing integrated solutions from individual semiconductor products to ICs to our customers. We will establish KEC’s brand image of increased profits and high added-value by constantly providing High Density & High Efficiency power semiconductors and solutions.” After the announcement of the mid- to long-term vision and business growth roadmap in 2019, KEC has been dedicated to its future growth by securing outstanding core engineering and marketing experts and expanding sales channels. The company is achieving its strategy of strengthening the product and business portfolio by focusing on the development, launch, and solution of new power semiconductor products for global electric vehicles and existing internal combustion engine car manufacturers, white home appliances, 5G network server, new renewable energy, and wearable IoT customers. 

KEC, a company specializing in semiconductors, announced that, one of its recently released power semiconductors, Super-Junction MOSFET (SJ MOS) product family received approval from major domestic home appliance companies for applying mass-produced SJ MOSFET to their main products in 2021. As the average price of the SJ MOSFET product line is at least 20 times higher than small-signal products such as SSTR and diode, the approval is expected to contribute significantly to KEC’s sales.   KEC’s new power semiconductors are recognized for their performance and quality from domestic manufacturers in various fields including displays, home appliances, electronic products, and automobiles. In particular, the SJ MOSFET product family is optimized for high energy efficiency and system reliability required for power semiconductors. The product is evaluated to be superior in performance, quality and technical services to distinguished foreign semiconductors used in recent electronic appliances, and being approved for major development models in 2021.Nam-Kyu Park, General Manager of KEC remarked, “KEC has built up strong relationships with prominent businesses home and abroad, primarily focusing on SSTR and diode for the last 50 years. With this as a foothold, we are planning to roll out numerous high value-added products using Gate Driver IC, Power IC, SiC and GaN, in addition to the discrete product families, SJ MOS and IGBT for high power. Furthermore, we are devoted to expand our R&D, marketing and sales channels, targeting the global market as well as the domestic market. The SJ MOS product family applied to domestic home appliances will be first launched as early as the end of October this year.” He also added, “The unit price of the SJ MOS product line is 20 to 30 times higher than small-signal products. In the case of IGBT, those with unit prices at least 100 times higher are being verified by automobile manufacturers for mass-production. We believe that this will have considerable effects not only to sales but also to profit increase and business structure improvement. Moreover, we are committed to prevent any problems in supplies through facilities investments and quality control, taking into account that the market demands are becoming higher than our initial anticipations,” showing confidence in the success of the company’s business. 

On the last 5th, KEC (President Chang-sup Hwang), a company specializing in non-memory semi-conductors, disclosed that it has signed a next-generation power semiconductor IGBT foundry contract with CSMC, the representative foundry company in China, at the end of the last month. To respond to IGBT market the demand on which is rapidly increasing recently, KEC signed a foundry contract with CSMC, one of the top 5 foundry companies in China, and through that contract, KEC secured productive capacity based on the state-of-art production technology, while simultaneously making the ground for entrance to overseas markets, including China. Since the first IGBT mass production in 2008, KEC has been recognized for its technical capabilities including development of high-efficiency reverse conducting IGBT with unique trench gate field-stop technology applied, and it has been promoting active marketing activities in industrial product market and electronic parts and materials market, as well as consumer appliance market. Meanwhile, KEC is expanding the scope of their business from end user purpose IGBTs including IH (Induction Heating), inverter Microwave Oven, and PFC (Port Flow Control of drive power converter), to industrial power semiconductors including components of servo motor, UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply), and IPM (Intelligent Power Module), through foundry with CSMC. Based on that, KEC is setting the long-term objective to dominate the markets of power semiconductors including EV charger, ESS, PTC heater, and solar for automotive and power purpose. KEC (President Chang-sup Hwang), ), a company specializing in non-memory semi-conductors, is an electric component manufacturer company which has been focusing on semiconductor industry for 49 years since its establishment at 1969, and its technical capability has been recognized by prestigious Korean and overseas electronics companies. To keep up with the waves of the 4th industrial revolution, KEC is making changes from consumer market including smart phone and appliances to automotive and industrial semiconductor company and is consolidating the foundation 

KEC (President Chang-sup Hwang ), a company specializing in non-memory semi-conductors, is participating in 2018 Korea Electronics Show (KES), currently held at Coex, Samseong-dong. KES is an event which is held along with Semiconductor Exhibition (SEDEX) and International Display Exhibition (IMID) as a part of Korean Electronic Industry Exhibition. It is the unquestionable Korea’s representative IT exhibition in which 500 Korean and overseas companies participate and 70 thousand guests visit. In this year’s event, KEC is intensively introducing power semiconductor products along with electronic parts and materials, especially focusing on SGT MOSFET, low EMI type SJ MOSFET, RC IGBT, and SiC SBD/MOSTET, which are the new products with new technologies applied. New products exhibited in this year’s event are products with less losses and better reliability compared to the previous products. And KEC mentioned that KEC, which has been leading small signal semiconductor sector, is preparing to reborn as an expert company specialized in power semiconductor for next 50 years. They also mentioned that they are planning to reinforce global marketing activities based on high value added, as well as product technical capability, and renew the foundation as power  semiconductor company. KEC (President Chang-sup Hwang), a company specializing in non-memory semi-conductors, is an electric component manufacturer company which has been focusing on semiconductor industry for 49 years since its establishment at 1969, and its technical capability has been recognized by prestigious Korean and overseas electronics companies. To keep up with the waves of the 4th industrial revolution, KEC is making changes from consumer market including smart phone and appliances to automotive and industrial semiconductor company and is consolidating the foundation.

KEC (President Chang-sup Hwang), a company specializing in non-memory semi-conductors, is participating in 2018 Electronica India, which is held in India from 26th this month to 28th the same month. “Electronica India”, which is held in Bengaluru, also known as Silicon Valley of India, is India’s largest international exhibition for electronic components and system applications, and in this year, 500 technology supplier companies from 27 countries will demonstrate innovative electronic technologies. Especially, various forums and events on automobile industry which is rapidly growing in India recently, along withcontinuously growing consumer appliance market are held. KEC is going to exhibit MOSFET, IGBT, and module, the essential components for operation of industrial power and motors, and more focused introductions of SGT MOSFET, low EMI type SJ MOSFET, and RC IGBT, the new products with new technologies applied, and through such activities, KEC will seek more serious entrance to India and South East Asia markets. Through this exhibition, KEC became able to further reinforce global marketing activities focused on high value added products, which the company has been constantly promoting, and the company is planning to enter various industrial application markets, as well as already entered UPS market, with outstanding performance and cost competitiveness of KEC products.

KEC (President Chang-sup Hwang), a company specializing in non-memory semi-conductors, introduced 1100V/30A, 1200V, and 1350V reverse conducting (RC) IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor), in which concentrated reverse conducting diodes are forming a monolithic through their unique trench gate field-stop technology. Previous IGBTs were in “two-chip, one-package” form in which separated diode chip is installed, but the newly developed IGBT is in “one-chip” form in which diode is installed within IGBT chip itself. This product is the one to make another advance in the performance of KEC IGBT. It is optimized for soft switching application systems including inverter microwave oven. Compared to the previous products, it lowers switching loss by 30 at most. It allows developers utilize high frequencies up to 60kHz, and such advance enables cost reduction in overall system, as efficiency could be raised to 93percents at most and inductor used in the system could be miniaturized Guaranteed maximum operative temperature capacity at 175℃ reduced power loss in higher surrounding temperature and provides better reliability. Also, as spike current at turn-on is lowered by 15, stress inflicted on passive elements in the system is reduced, and desirable EMI property could be acquired. KEC is supplying the introduced reverse conducting IGBT from the 3rd quarter of 2018, and will actively promote occupation of Japanese inverter microwave oven market. The person concerned mentioned that KEC is planning to mass produce 10 million units of the new product annually, and 9 million dollars annual revenue growth is expected. KEC (President Chang-sup Hwang), a company specializing in non-memory semi-conductors, is an electric component manufacturer company which has been focusing on semiconductor industry for 49 years since its establishment at 1969, and its technical capability has been recognized by prestigious Korean and overseas electronics companies. To keep up with the waves of the 4th industrial revolution, KEC is making changes from consumer market including smart phone and appliances to automotive and industrial semiconductor company and is consolidating the foundation 

Executive Director Geun-soo Ryu at KEC (President Chang-sup Hwang), a company specializing in non-memory semi-conductors, won Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Award at “the 45th Trade and Industry Day” ceremony. Executive Director Geun-soo Ryu entered KEC in 1989, had served in Department of Production and Department of Materials, and is currently working as the Director of Production Division. His contributions to 2.7 billion KRW cost reduction and increased productivity through process integration and productivity innovation, and peaceful negotiation without any strike for 7 consecutive years through establishment of new negotiation customs based on harmony between employer and employee and outstanding leadership as the head of Gumi factory complex in which 700 employees work have been recognized. Also, as his contribution to local community through volunteer work in local sanitarium, cleaning in local parks, and river purification works was also recognized, he was granted the honor of winning Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Award in the Best Manager part. Executive Director Geun-soo Ryu mentioned, “It is an honor that I was granted such a meaningful award which has been awarded to excellent businessmen.”, and he also said, “Facing the upcoming 4th industrial revolution, every employees at KEC will make an endeavor to secure higher competitiveness in semiconductor industry, as well as to contribute to local development in Gumi.”

KEC (President Chang-sup Hwang), a company specializing in non-memory semi-conductors, mentioned that the company has been designated for national task for development of 1200V trench type SiC MOSFET device for electric automobile and new renewable energy device for electric automobile, which is the Key Industrial Technology Development Project conducted by Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy.The purpose of this national task is to secure Korea’s global competitiveness through localization of future growth dynamics in materials and parts industry and develop and commercialize the next-generation power semiconductor (SiC) essential for eco-friendly automobile and new renewable energy industry which will lead the 4th industrial revolution. Especially, it was told that as the next-generation power semiconductor (SiC) is national key project, institute with the best possibility of commercialization was designated.Personnel at KEC mentioned that “It is expected that through this national project, both energy consumption reduction and stability essential for electric automobile and eco-friendly renewable energy industry could be achieved, through weight lightening and higher efficiency of components which handle high temperature, velocity, or output secured through SiC, the next-generation semiconductor material with fine material property.” The personnel also mentioned that “It is expected that this could be the chance to secure national competitiveness in the next-generation semiconductor material sector through localization of SiC power semiconductor the entire amount of which is currently imported, and enhance corporate value through preoccupation of electric automobile market and eco-friendly energy market which are expected to grow much further.”It is expected that KEC would be able to not only expand its ground in electric automobile component market but also secure technical capability equivalent to that of prestigious overseas competitors, through securement of core technologies in electric automobile electronic parts and materials sector and industrial semiconductor sector, triggered by this designation for national task for the next-generation power semiconductor and commercialization of BMS diode module for electric automobiles KEC recently developed in joint development with LG Chem.KEC (President Chang-sup Hwang), a company specializing in non-memory semi-conductors, is an electric component manufacturer company which has been focusing on semiconductor industry for 49 years since its establishment at 1969, and its technical capability has been recognized by prestigious Korean and overseas electronics companies. To keep up with the waves of the 4th industrial revolution, KEC is making changes from consumer market including smart phone and appliances to automotive and industrial semiconductor company and is consolidating the foundation.