Hyundai Motor chief visits Intel's Irish chip plant

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun (second from left) and Ann-Marie Holmes (third from left), co-general manager of Intel worldwide semiconductor manufacturing, pose for a photograph at Intel Ireland Campus’ Fab 24 manufacturing plant in Leixlip on Friday. (Hyundai Motor Group)

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun visited Intel’s semiconductor plant in Ireland on Friday to inspect the global chip supply chain trends and prepare stability for in-vehicle chips in the future.

According to the South Korean auto giant on Sunday, Chung checked out the manufacturing process at the Fab 24 manufacturing plant, located at Intel Ireland’s Leixlip campus in County Kildare as he was briefed on the chip company’s global business status.

Hyundai Motor Group explained that the top leadership’s visit to Intel intended to assess the reorganizing movements in chip supply chains in major markets across the world and search for various scenarios to secure smooth delivery of auto chips in the future.

The European Union has announced a plan to invest 43 billion euros ($47.2 billion) through 2030 to bolster the regional semiconductor industry and account for 20 percent of the worldwide chip production as the EU looks to countermeasure nationalistic chip policies from the United States and China.

“Currently, cars have 200 to 300 semiconductor chips in them. At level 4 autonomous driving, about 2,000 semiconductor chips are expected to go into cars,” Chung said in a meeting with employees earlier this year, highlighting the importance of internalizing auto chip technologies.

Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s third-largest automaker, is looking to lead the future mobility industry with focuses on all-electric vehicles, purpose-built vehicles and software-defined vehicles. The transformation into such futuristic vehicles requires chips that can process mass data in a heartbeat.

Ann-Marie Holmes, co-general manager of Intel worldwide semiconductor manufacturing, accompanied Chung to observe Fab24’s 14-nano FinFET production facilities. Using 14-nano FinFET technology, Fab24 makes central process units, or CPUs, and supplies them to Hyundai Motor Group. The CPUs are used for Hyundai Motor’s fifth-generation infotainment system and the advanced driver assistance systems in the Genesis G90 and Kia EV9. Genesis is Hyundai Motor’s premium brand and Kia is its sister firm.

Hyundai Motor said Chung also checked out Intel’s remote operation center that monitors the global chip company’s fab operations 24/7, as he was given introductions to Intel’s management process of manufacturing and supply chains.

On top of seeking multi-faceted cooperation with worldly chip leaders to diversify supply chains, Hyundai Motor has been pushing for internalizing technologies to develop high-performance auto chip. Last month, it committed a 2 billion won ($1.5 million) follow-up investment in Korean auto chip startup Bos Semiconductors.

By Kan Hyeong-woo(hwkan@heraldcorp.com)