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DENSO CORPORATION hosted a press conference at JAPAN MOBILITY SHOW 2023 held at Tokyo Big Sight on October 26. Shinnosuke Hayashi, President and COO introduced the strategy to maximize company’s contributions to “Green” and “Peace of Mind.”
Shinnnouke Hayashi, President and COO of DENSO CORPORATION said that it is a great pleasure that the Tokyo Motor Show, which has attracted much public attention for decades, has been renamed the JAPAN MOBILITY SHOW. This change reflects the fact that we are entering an era of creating new value by addressing various issues from the viewpoint of a mobility-centered society instead of just vehicles and by connecting people and technologies across industries. This means that DENSO must meet major challenges.
To evolve from “a Tier 1 supplier that supports the auto industry “to “a Tier 1 supplier that supports a mobility-centered society” to create value for more diverse customers, the company addresses three intiatives. To promote these three initiatives, DENSO will recruit new employees in the electrification and software field and actively shift the employees from the mature field to the electrification and software fields and strengthen about 4,000 employees during the four years from 2022 to 2025.- The contribution to the “evolution of mobility”
In the “Green” field, “the environment”, in addition to the product lineup in the “horizontal” direction to enable installation in HEVs, PHEVs, BEVs, and FCEVs, the lineup will be expanded in the “vertical” direction ranging from large systems, which link electrification products with energy management, to components, including power modules, thereby meeting the needs of various customers as BEVs proliferate and helping to achieve carbon neutrality in respective countries. In the “Peace of Mind” field, “worry-free society”, in addition to around-vehicle monitoring systems, DENSO will focus on driver status monitoring systems and cloud-based large systems, which connect with the social infrastructure. Through these efforts, the company will help eliminate fatalities.
Furthermore, DENSO will extend its commitment to the evolution of mobility to the sky to help realize more freedom of traveling and expand the possibilities of mobility.
- The challenge to “to create new value”
DENSO has been studying the possibility of developing and commercializing many technologies in non-mobility fields, including energy, food and agriculture, and the circular economy. Specifically, the company plans to market energy system products such as Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell and Solid Oxide Fuel Cell in 2024 and beyond.
- Strengthening semiconductors and software
In terms of semiconductors, DENSO will actively invest about 500 billion yen by 2030. DENSO will triple the scale of the business from the current level by 2035. To expand production, the company must ensure stable procurement of materials. Thus, DENSO will forge strategic partnerships with various companies.
In the softaware field, the implementation phase to embody concepts, the company will accelerate the planning of electronic platform and over-the-air technology development based on user needs while strengthening partnerships with various customers and promote integrated development across companies. DENSO will increase the number of software engineers and improve their skills and integrate two group companies which have excellent proprietary technologies, into DENSO. One is NSITEXE, which specializes in the semiconductor intellectual property, and the other is AUBASS, which specializes in developing basic in-vehicle software. DENSO will double the speed of development by applying specialized AI, which incorporates company’s knowledge and experience gained through in-vehicle software.
Original – DENSO
- The contribution to the “evolution of mobility”
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LATEST NEWS / PROJECTS3 Min Read
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that it played the key role in leading the project to draft the 2023 International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) White Paper entitled “Power Semiconductors for an Energy-Wise society,” which the IEC released on October 17. This is the first time for a White Paper, published annually since 2010, to issue recommendations for developing and expanding international standards and certification systems for power semiconductors.
Each year, the IEC White Paper focuses on electrical, electronic and electromechanical technologies requiring international standardization, and makes related recommendations to the IEC and other organizations.
Power semiconductors, one of Mitsubishi Electric’s core product lines, are expected to continue to advance technologically and be increasingly adopted as key devices that reduce power consumption and efficiently convert electrical energy, supporting the global drive toward carbon neutrality by 2050.
New materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) are being used in advanced power semiconductors for applications such as renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs), but the development of international standards and certification systems for such devices is lagging. A lack of such standards and certifications could lead to a proliferation of nonconforming products and impede cooperation among manufacturers, users and regulators, thereby hindering the healthy growth of the power semiconductor global market.
In response, Mitsubishi Electric initiated a White Paper project within the IEC Market Strategy Board (MSB) in October 2022. Together with experts from around the world, the project team addressed issues related to power semiconductor technologies, markets, and regulations.
The resulting White Paper summarizes the applications, sectors and technological trends of power semiconductors and highlights the need for the development, alignment, and expansion of respective international standards and certification systems. In particular, the White Paper focuses on the critical role that power semiconductor standards can play in helping to realize emission-free, carbon-neutral industries for a healthier and more prosperous world.
The main points of the 2023 IEC White Paper include:
- Current status and future trends of society, markets, and technologies related to power semiconductors and applications that are essential for realizing an “Energy-Wise society” in which energy is used wisely and efficiently.
- Challenges facing the power semiconductor industry and solutions for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 through an integrated approach involving relevant regulatory, industry and international standardization organizations around the globe.
- Recommendations for international standardization bodies, particularly the IEC, to establish a roadmap and guidelines for the development of international standards and conformity assessment systems for power semiconductors.
The White Paper project team was led by Dr. Kazuhiko Tsutsumi, Mitsubishi Electric’s specially appointed technical advisor who also serves as IEC Vice President and Chair of the MSB, and included experts from Mitsubishi Electric’s Corporate Intellectual Property Division (Tokyo), Mitsubishi Electric’s Power Device Works (Fukuoka), Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. German Branch (Ratingen, Germany), as well as a team of international experts.
Going forward, Mitsubishi Electric will collaborate with power semiconductor companies, users, and regulatory authorities to establish a roadmap for the creation of power semiconductor international standards as recommended in the 2023 IEC White Paper, with the aim of promoting the healthy growth of the power semiconductor market in the quest for carbon neutrality by 2050.
Original – Mitsubishi Electric
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Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, announced that it is expanding into semiconductor investment with the launch of Ardian Semiconductor. This innovative platform will invest across the semiconductor value chain with a focus on Europe and will enable companies to grow into global leaders in their markets.
Semiconductor devices are pervasive in the world economy and are the critical enablers of the digital transformation and green transition of key sectors, such as data infrastructure, mobility, industrial and consumer. Following several decades of consistent mid to high single digit growth, industry analysts believe the semiconductor industry will continue to grow and reach $1 trillion by 2030, driven by predictable megatrends such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, electrification and automation of mobility and industry, or smart & connected devices.
Europe is one of the most attractive regions to invest in the coming decade. European companies in the value chain are global leaders in semiconductors for the mobility and industrial end-markets that are experiencing rapid technological transformation and expected to grow the fastest.
Europe also leads through its innovation ecosystems, IP, specialized equipment and materials companies, that underpin major megatrends such as the artificial intelligence revolution. Europe leverages strong foundations and attractive government incentives, including the €43 billion European Chips Act, to strengthen its leadership and benefit from an increased regionalization of the global supply chain.
Ardian Semiconductor aims at becoming the partner of choice of the European semiconductor value chain, bringing innovative and flexible capital solutions, as well as strategic and operational expertise, to companies with the potential to enable megatrends leveraging their distinctive technologies.
Ardian is launching the Ardian Semiconductor platform through an exclusive strategic partnership with Silian Partners, a team of highly successful senior executives from the semiconductor industry with more than 115 years of combined experience in the space, bringing unique industry relationships, strategic vision, and operational focus. Ardian and Silian Partners will work as One Team, and will bring together Ardian’s proven and successful private equity capabilities and investment processes with unparalleled industry leadership and expertise.
Ardian Semiconductor is managed by Ardian France. Silian Partners assists Ardian as an industry expert.
Ardian Semiconductor will be powered by a detailed analysis of technology megatrends and their implications across the semiconductor value chain. The team will work together to identify attractive opportunities, carry out expert due diligence, and work closely with entrepreneurs and management teams to define strategic roadmaps and execute.
This expansion builds on Ardian’s track record of investing in attractive high-growth sectors, in addition to its flagship investment activities.
“Semiconductors are everywhere and enable the world’s digital transformation and green transition. As demand for semiconductors is expected to more than double over the next decade, a whole supply chain needs to scale and bring continued innovation, including countless European mid-sized companies. We’re assembling a unique team with tremendous experience and track-record, and I can’t enjoy more than welcoming Paul, Christophe, Helmut and Thomas.
It’s therefore the perfect time to launch Ardian Semiconductor, leveraging Europe’s leading positions in critical segments of the semiconductor value chain. Building on Ardian’s proven track record as a global private investment leader, the platform will bring innovative capital solutions to this strategic value chain at a pivotal moment, working alongside world-class industry leaders.” Thibault Basquin, Member of the Executive Committee, Ardian
“We are delighted to partner with Ardian, who perfectly understand the unique opportunity to address a critical need of the European semiconductor value chain and become its financial sponsor of choice. Through a bespoke strategic partnership, we bring together in One Team seasoned private equity investors, proven investment processes, and successful semiconductor leaders.
Ardian is the ideal firm with the right people and culture to build this first-of-its-kind investment platform together. As we initiate dialogues with companies and entrepreneurs, we have confirmation that we enable solutions for the industry that do not exist today and that our approach will create significant value across the board.” Paul Boudre, Senior Managing Director & Co-Founder of Silian Partners
Silian Partners is led by:
- Paul Boudre, Senior Managing Director & Co-Founder, who brings c.35 years of semiconductor experience. As Chief Executive Officer of Soitec from 2015 to 2022, he successfully led the company through a restructuring and positioned it as a global leader of engineered semiconductor materials. Prior to Soitec, he held senior positions in semiconductor equipment and manufacturing with KLA, STMicroelectronics, IBM Microelectronics, Motorola Semiconductor and Atmel.
- Christophe Duverne, Senior Managing Director & Co-Founder, who has been a semiconductor and electronics executive for the past c.30 years. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of Linxens from 2010 to 2020, which he founded from a corporate carve-out, and led through two successful buyout transactions sponsored by CVC, Astorg and Bain Capital, to create a global leader in smart card components manufacturing. Prior to founding Linxens, he worked for over 10 years at NXP Semiconductors where he was Senior Vice President of the Identification business unit.
- Dr Helmut Gassel, Senior Managing Director & Co-Founder, who contributes c.30 years of semiconductor industry experience. He served as a member of Infineon’s Management Board as Chief Marketing Officer from 2016 to 2022 with responsibilities encompassing marketing, sales, strategy and M&A. In this capacity, he led the €9bn acquisition and integration of Cypress Semiconductor and contributed to transform Infineon into a global top 10 semiconductor company. Prior to joining Infineon in 1995 as a semiconductor design engineer, he worked in semiconductor research at Fraunhofer Institute
- Thomas Pebay-Peyroula, Managing Director & Co-Founder, who brings c.15 years of investment banking experience and has advised many European semiconductor companies on strategic, M&A and financing matters. He is joining from Rothschild & Co, and started his career with Lazard.
Original – Ardian
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DISCO Corporation has made a decision to build a new building at the Haneda R&D Center (Higashi Kojiya, Ota-ku). Construction will begin in April 2025 and is scheduled for completion at the end of March 2027. With the construction of the new building, DISCO aims to further enhance its R&D functions, enabling it to respond to the future needs of the semiconductor and electronic component markets.
The existing buildings, which were acquired in March 2022, were originally designed and built by a previous owner for training flight crews and as a data center. As these buildings have a relatively large amount of floor space with high load-bearing capacity, they were put into use as a development site upon the fitting of utilities such as water supply, drainage, and compressed air.
However, with the recent increase in development, DISCO has decided to construct a new building with an increased amount of floor space suitable for development. This new building will be constructed such that it can be expanded if more floor space for development becomes necessary.
Two of the seven existing buildings will be demolished to make room for the new building. The five remaining buildings will continue to be used with the purpose of R&D, as well as enhancing DISCO’s production system during periods of high demand.
Original – DISCO
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The automotive industry is evolving at a rapid pace, with E-Mobility and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) driving the market’s need for innovative solutions. Microchip Technology announced the expansion of its Detroit Automotive Technology Center in Novi, Michigan. The 24,000-square-foot facility is the destination for automotive clients to explore new technologies and to meet with technical experts to get support for their end applications and designs.
Microchip has been part of the Detroit community since 1999, when it first opened its doors as an application and sales office. With the recent completion of phase three of its expansion project, Microchip has more than doubled its lab space, including the addition of new labs that focus on high-voltage and E-Mobility applications. This larger facility will also bring more technology-related jobs to the region.
“Microchip’s automotive business is a cornerstone of our company’s legacy. We remain focused on developing total system solutions, and this expansion provides our customers with immediate access to state-of-the-art resources,” said Rich Simoncic, executive vice president of Microchip. “In addition to the Detroit location, we have Automotive Technology Centers in Munich, Shanghai, Tokyo and Austin, Texas, to support our global customer base.”
“Microchip’s Automotive Technology Center demonstrates our commitment to the automotive industry by providing a destination for them to develop, test and refine applications in the design phase,” said Matthias Kaestner, corporate vice president of Microchip’s automotive business. “Our vision for the center is to provide our automotive customers with the confidence to choose the right solutions for their designs by helping them to cut design effort and time to market by providing world class technical support locally.”
Located in the heart of the automotive industry, and with top tier OEMs, suppliers and startups operating in the region, Novi is a key location for Microchip’s Detroit Automotive Technology Center and easily accessible to help OEMs with their design challenges.
The key capabilities of the Detroit Automotive Technology Center include:
- Dedicated high-voltage lab for demonstrations of reference designs featuring Microchip’s silicon carbide mSiC™ solutions, dsPIC® Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) and our wide breadth of analog and mixed-signal solutions
- Support for central compute and zonal networks in ADAS platforms using Microchip’s PCIe® Gen 4 and Gen 5 switching hardware, single-pair Ethernet devices and development tools
- Human Machine Interface (HMI) lab to support the development of full-width cockpit displays; touchscreens; Knob-on-Display™ (KoD™) solutions; and buttons, sliders, and wheels with EMC testing
- USB and networking development resources for pre-certification of multimedia infotainment systems and media hubs for advanced USB Type-C® 3.2 protocol applications
- Die- and product-level characterization of automotive MEMS resonators and oscillators, including vacuum and wafer-scale probe and test, long-term aging, frequency stability, phase noise and jitter test capability
- Development of automotive security solutions using Microchip’s CryptoAutomotive™ TrustAnchor ICs, and onsite security training to learn how to implement secure elements in applications such as secure boot, message and hardware authentication and more
“The new high-voltage lab will help our automotive customers develop systems using our reference design platforms and analog, digital control and power solutions,” said Clayton Pillion, vice president of Microchip’s silicon carbide business unit. “As more OEMs transition to our E-Mobility offerings, we are ready to support them from the design phase to implementation.”
As a leading supplier of embedded solutions to global automotive OEMs, Microchip offers many automotive products that are qualified in accordance with AEC-Q100 requirements. Its automotive-qualified product portfolio includes microcontrollers, DSCs, USB and networking solutions, analog and interface products, SiC MOSFETs, serial EEPROMs and more.
Microchip also offers a broad portfolio of ISO 26262 functional safety ready and functional safety compliant devices that offer the latest hardware safety features and are supported by a comprehensive safety ecosystem to simplify the design and certification of safety-critical automotive applications.
Original – Microchip Technology
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GaN / LATEST NEWS / PROJECTS / WBG3 Min Read
GlobalFoundries has been awarded $35 million in federal funding from the U.S. government to accelerate the manufacturing of GF’s differentiated gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon semiconductors at its facility in Essex Junction, Vermont. This funding brings GF closer to large-scale production of GaN chips, which are unique in their ability to handle high voltages and temperatures.
These chips are positioned to enable game-changing performance and efficiency in 5G and 6G cellular communications for infrastructure and handsets, automotive and industrial Internet of things (IoT), as well as power grids and other critical infrastructure.
With the new $35 million in funding, awarded by the Department of Defense’s Trusted Access Program Office (TAPO), GF plans to purchase additional tools to expand development and prototyping capabilities, moving closer to at-scale 200mm GaN-on-silicon semiconductor manufacturing.
As part of the investment, GF plans to implement new capabilities for reducing the exposure of GF and its customers to supply chain constraints of gallium, while improving the speed of development, assurance of supply and competitiveness of U.S-made GaN chips.
The funding builds on years of collaboration with the U.S. government – including $40 million in support from 2020-2022 – that leverages the talent of GF’s Vermont team and their 200mm semiconductor manufacturing experience, and applies it to GaN-on-silicon manufacturing. 200mm is state-of-the-art for GaN chip technology.
“Vermont is a leader in semiconductor innovation. This federal funding is welcome news, and will solidify our state’s position as a leader at the forefront of manufacturing next-generation chips,” said Senator Peter Welch. “It’s critical we support investment in this industry here in Vermont and in the U.S. – both for our local economic growth and for our national security. I look forward to continuing to fight for our domestic semiconductor and chip manufacturers in the Senate.”
“This strategic investment continues to strengthen our domestic ecosystem of critical dual-use commercial technologies, ensuring they’re readily available and secure for DoD utilization. In concert with key partners, we’re proactively shaping the future of our defense systems,” said The Honorable Christopher J. Lowman, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment.
“GaN on silicon is an ideal technology for high performance radio frequency, high voltage power switching and control applications for emerging markets, and it’s important for 6G wireless communications, industrial IoT, and electric vehicles,” said Dr. Thomas Caulfield, president and CEO of GF.
“GF has a longstanding partnership with the U.S. government, and this funding is critical to move GaN on silicon chips closer to volume production. These chips will enable our customers to realize bold new designs that push the envelope of energy efficiency and performance of critical technologies we rely on every day.”
GF’s facility in Essex Junction, Vermont, near Burlington, was among the first major semiconductor manufacturing sites in the United States. Today around 1,800 GF employees work at the site. Built on GF’s differentiated technologies, these GF-made chips are used in smartphones, automobiles, and communications infrastructure applications around the world.
The facility is a DMEA accredited Trusted Foundry and manufactures secure chips in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, for use in some of the nation’s most sensitive aerospace and defense systems.
Original – GlobalFoundries