SK Hynix wins Europe certification for automotive chips

SK Hynix Inc., the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, said on Tuesday it has earned international certification for its automotive memory chips from Europe to become the first South Korean chipmaker to win the recognition.

ASPICE1 Level 2 certification is an industry-standard guideline for automotive software development, particularly for in-vehicle NAND memory chips. It was introduced by European carmakers to evaluate auto parts suppliers' reliability and capabilities.

ASPICE is short for Automotive Software Process Improvement & Capability Determination.

SK Hynix expects the certification to boost demand for its NAND memory chips such as Universal Flash Memory and solid-state drives (SSDs).

Universal Flash Memory is a type of non-volatile memory chip used in mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. An SSD is a storage device and based on NAND Flash.

“With systems for the Advanced Driver Assistance System and infotainment getting more sophisticated, the importance of software quality management as well as compatibility and stability is growing, requiring auto part suppliers to obtain ASPICE Level 2 or the equivalent,” SK said in a statement.

To earn the certification, SK Hynix joined hands with Siemens, combining its digital transformation technology with Siemens’ certification solutions.

SK Hynix is now aiming for a higher-level ASPICE Level 3 certification, with more advanced in-vehicle software technologies.

The automotive semiconductor market is forecast to grow by an average of 12% per year between 2022 and 2027, according to market tracker IHS Markit.

The memory chip segment is expected to outpace the entire automotive semiconductor market, growing by an annual average of 20%.

During a conference call last year, SK Hynix said the number of vehicles equipped with the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems will double by 2027 and the automotive memory chip demand will increase by five times by 2032, compared with last year’s figure.

Still, the percentage of automotive memory chips remains in the low single digits in terms of its total sales.

Write to Ye-Rin Choi at rambutan@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.