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◇ Advanced into a power semiconductor solution company with the launch of the Gate Driver IC 
◇ Reinforced technological competitiveness through new strategic IC products since the declaration of the Vision 2025
◇ Accomplishments through cooperation in new product planning with a leading domestic home appliance manufacturer and plans to advance into the overseas market 



KEC (CEO Hwang, Changseop) announced the launch of the Gate Driver IC and IGBT solution equipped with Bootstrap Diode (hereafter BSD) for the first time in Korea. 

Major domestic home appliance companies have used specific foreign-made semiconductors for Gate Driver ICs. However, KEC proposed a solution satisfying the requirements for a new refrigerator model of a leading domestic home appliance company which even leading overseas semiconductor companies were not able to meet.

Home appliance manufacturers will be able to reduce the circuit size while reducing the cost of the product by using BSD built-in gate driver IC. KEC proved the quality and characteristics of the BSD built-in gate driver IC, and proposed an external TSD (Thermal Shut Down) circuit and an appropriate IGBT without NTC (Negative Temperature Coefficient of Resistance). Such an integrated solution product enabled the localization of power semiconductors, fairly demonstrating the technological prowess in competition with advanced foreign semiconductor companies. Furthermore, KEC is also able to expect the expansion of its business to the global market using gate driver ICs.

Nam-Kyu Park, KEC’s General Manager, mentioned, that “The gate driver IC to be released constitutes a lineup that can operate IGBT and MOSFET with a threshold voltage of 12V to 20V per channel. In addition, there are various built-in protection functions such as an overcurrent protection circuit, a dead time function, and a cross-conduction protection minimizing switching losses. In particular, an independent low-voltage lockout (UVLO) function for the bottom power supply and a gate signal transmission delay matching function for all channels are built in. Therefore, the products with the gate driver IC will have stably driven motors that enable the maintenance of excellent robustness and stability.”

The IGBT to be supplied as a solution along with the new gate driver IC is a 650V/5A product, mounted in a DPAK package, and can control over 2kV of Electro Static Discharge (ESD). A KEC official said that target for the demand for the two new products from partner home appliance companies is more than 30 million units for approximately five years for the new refrigerator models. 

The home appliance market is another major market KEC is targeting along with the automotive electronics market. According to the market research firm Market Insights, the global home appliance market is expected to reach $430 billion (approximately 462 trillion won) with an annual average growth rate (CAGR) of 8% from 2021 to 2023. This is expected to have a positive effect on the semiconductor industry as well.

KEC said, “We expect the power semiconductor field to continue to grow in line with the increasing demand for semiconductors in the renewable energy sector such as electric vehicles and solar power as well as the global home appliance market,” further stating, “We will actively advance into the overseas market by extending our portfolio of new products with global competitiveness.”