Korea's Hyundai Mobis bolsters its own chipmaking capabilities

Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea’s largest auto parts maker, is aiming to produce the majority of its automotive semiconductors with its own technologies, the company said on July 22.

It is accelerating the internalization of automotive chips development and production, focusing on power semiconductors, the company stated during a conference call on Friday to report its second quarter financial results.  

It is planning to self-develop non-memory chips and will seek external partnerships for high-performance semiconductor production.

Hyundai Mobis, under Hyundai Motor Group, has developed its own chips for vehicles since December 2020 when it acquired the semiconductor division of Hyundai Autron Co., another car parts affiliate in the group.

The company also announced 12.3 trillion won ($9.4 billion) in sales, 403.3 billion won in operating profit and 769.7 billion won in net profit for the second quarter of this year. Sales increased 19.7% and operating profit declined 28.4% from the year previous. Net profit improved by 15%.  

Hyundai Mobis’ quarterly sales improved despite the global finished car makers’ slow recovery due to the chip shortage. It was driven by the sales in modules and core auto parts, which amounted to 9.9 trillion won, up 19.3% on-year. This includes sales in electrification parts that reached 2.1 trillion with a 54% increase from the year earlier.

Rising semiconductor prices and logistical costs affected the decline in operating profit, the company said. The resurgence of the pandemic and rising costs will continue to challenge the auto parts maker in the second half of 2022, the company added.

Hyundai Mobis will intensify efforts to increase global carmakers’ orders and strengthen its research and development capabilities. It has won a combined $2.57 billion of orders during the first half of 2022, reaching 70% of the annual $3.75 billion target.

The company will seek out clients in Europe, North America and Asia in the second half to supply electronic systems, lamps and electrification parts.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.