Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
German chip company Infineon unveils new automotive chips
Choi Jae-hong, senior director of Infineon Technologies Korea, speaks during a press conference at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
Infineon Technologies, a Germany-based semiconductor company specializing in automotive chips, announced a new low-power double data rate (LPDDR) flash memory chip for vehicles, Tuesday.
With low- and high-performance, LPDDR chips have been increasingly used not only in mobile devices but also in a variety of applications including servers, high-performance computing and vehicles.
Infineon's SEMPER X1 is the automotive industry's first LPDDR flash memory chip, featuring an LPDDR4 interface that operates at speeds of up to 3.2 gigabytes per second.
Compared to NOR flash memory chips, the new chip is eight times faster. Using this memory in vehicles enables advanced features with better safety and flexibility, Infineon said.
Linus Wong, director of product management at Infineon Technologies, speaks during a press conference at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul
As a leader in NOR flash automotive memory, Infineon looks forward to working with partners to drive memory standardization and expand the market.
“The automotive industry is constantly evolving, and this requires system changes and current NOR flash simply doesn't have the performance to support it,” Linus Wong, director of product management at Infineon Technologies, said during a press conference in Seoul.
Choi Jae-hong, senior director of Infineon Technologies Korea, said the company will be even more competitive in the era of electric vehicles (EV), which will increase demand for semiconductors.
“Many people want to know how many semiconductors go into a car. The average car with an internal combustion engine contains about $500 worth of semiconductors. As of 2022, an average of $1,000 worth of semiconductors were used in an electric car, and we expect that to rise to $1500 by 2028,” Choi said.
“As the drivetrains in EVs become more complex and the power output more intense, more power semiconductors will be required and Infineon will be even more competitive.”
He added that Infineon offers a full portfolio for EVs, ranging from power semiconductors and radars for autonomous driving to battery management integrated circuits.