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Microchip Technology Automotive Market Strategy and Solution Announcement Press Conference

Published : Monday, February 26, 2018, 9:59 am
ACROFAN=Yong-Man Kwon | yongman.kwon@acrofan.com | SNS
Microchip Technology Inc. held a press conference at Park Hyatt Seoul Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on November 7, 2017, and introduced strategies and solutions for the automotive market. Microchip is presenting a variety of solutions that can improve the key trends in the automotive market - efficiency, connectivity, safety, security and user experience.

Microchip is currently supporting customers who design massive embedded control applications from consumer, automotive, industrial, telecommunications, defense and aerospace to computing industries around the world. In addition, the automotive part accounts for 25% of the total sales of Microchip. It occupies the third place in the MCU market in 2016 and the eighth place in the automotive semiconductor market with the market share of 2.9%. And in recent years, Microchip has been involved in a number of other acquisitions to strengthen its capabilities in automotive sector.

Recent trends in the automotive market include electrification of in-vehicle networks and pumps, increasing fuel efficiency through increased use of brushless motors, security between ECUs in the vehicle as well as the connected cars, and improvement of user experience to enjoy it not only at consumer electronics but also at the car. Microchip offers a wide range of technologies and products ranging from a variety of network interfaces for automotive to meet these needs, touch and gesture recognition solutions for user experience, sensors and LED lightings to ADAS configuration technology.

 
▲ Willie Fitzgerald, Director of Product Marketing at Microchip Automotive Products Group

Willie Fitzgerald, director of product marketing at Microchip Automotive Products Group, announced that Microchip is aiming to become the best embedded control solution company with advanced intelligence, connectivity and security technologies through ‘vision 2.0’. In addition to microcontrollers, which are traditional business areas, Microchip covers a wide range of applications ranging from mixed signal, analog, interface, security solutions, clock, timing, and non-volatile EEPROM to flash memory. Microchip recorded $35 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2017 for 108 consecutive quarters of growth.

Microchip's current MCU market share is estimated to be the third highest in 2016, and it is reported that it continues to grow with its solid position. In terms of sales by market, automotive parts accounted for 25%. Meanwhile, a variety of mergers and acquisitions to expand technology capabilities have been identified as one of the key strategies. In the automotive sector, meaningful significant acquisitions in recent years include SMSC and EqcoLogic for transceiver technology, Micrel for analog or mixed signal, and Atmel for MCU, touch, and security.

Currently, Microchip is in the eighth place in the automotive semiconductor market, and its acquisition of Atmel in 2016 is expected to strengthen its position and continue to grow. Moreover, products are being used in the networking and touch display of vehicles, LED lighting for inside and outside of vehicles, and ADAS. The company is looking forward to expanding into more fields in the future and expects business growth accordingly.

 
▲ Expected to expand in the future, high-level capabilities in Ethernet-based technology is introduced.

Recent trends in the automotive market include ECU networking through applying a variety of electronic equipment in vehicle, increasing fuel efficiency through expanding electrification of pumps and motors, connectivity due to rises such as increase of communication among ECUs or connected cars and security such as encryption accordingly, and enhancement of user experience that can be enjoyed not only in consumer electronics such as smartphones but also in automobiles by utilizing capacitive touch and haptic technology.

Microchip offers a wide range of interfaces for automotive networking from Ethernet to LIN, MOST, CAN, USB and so on. It is trying to lead the automotive networking and connectivity solutions market and become a company that can add bigger value to its customers' solutions. Among them, Ethernet-based devices have already shipped more than 60 million ports, have a broad product portfolio with AEC-Q100 certification, and provide a robust, secure and secure solution for the automotive industry.

With the current driver-assisted systems moving from automation to automated driving, the number of ECUs in the vehicle as well as complexity will increase, and applications to support are expected to become more complex. In addition, the inter-ECU communication will continue to increase and the bandwidth demand will be even greater. Therefore, Ethernet-based connection technology is pointed out as one of the technologies that can effectively address these needs. Microchip added that it is in a position to move ahead with Ethernet technology as a connectivity technology for the automated driving era.

 
▲ Microchip provides capacitive touch and gesture recognition solutions for a variety of applications.

The capacitive touch solution is considered one of the key elements of the advanced HMI to enhance the user experience. And in this section, Microchip has secured powerful capabilities about capacitive touch for a wide range of applications ranging from screens, touch pads, gesture recognition, and buttons to sliders. Currently, Microchip offers mTouch for proximity sensors, buttons, and sliders, maXTouch for touch pads and screens, and GestIC solutions for gesture control.

About Microchip's strengths in maXTouch solutions, while providing products in the automotive market for more than 30 years, Microchip has understood its users, responded to new use cases, and demonstrated product quality in more than 50 million vehicles. It also has a wide range of applications ranging from a small pad to a 20-inch screen. It also has capabilities such as glove-wearing, high-humidity handling, force sensing, and gesture response. Moreover, teams have been deployed around the world to support customers and have been certified in product and firmware development.

LED lighting is used extensively in exterior lighting as well as in interior ambient lighting and instrument panel backlighting, and it affects not only vehicle styling but also reduction of CO2 emissions. In addition, Microchip is supporting all aspects of LED lighting: standard analog-based approach, hybrid approach with analog-based and digital technology, and full-digital system approach to various topologies.

 
▲ ADAS implementation also helps to implement various technologies.

In ADAS, the fastest growing segment, cameras and sensor-based applications have been shown to accelerate the electrification. And for the various functions that make up the ADAS system, Microchip is helping customers implement the ADAS system by providing a variety of products and solution combinations ranging from MCUs to networks, analogs and memories. In addition, MEMS oscillators that replace traditional crystal oscillators will have significant market opportunities in ADAS, smart actuators and user interfaces, with the benefits of reliability, accuracy and small packaging.

Microchip's camera modules can be used in front, rear, surround-view camera systems and high-end dash cameras, and its access control system is developing its capabilities through passive entry, low-power UWB radar and home link for automatic door opening of garage door. In addition, there are application examples in the body control such as kick sensing for opening trunk door, steering wheel control, door handle sensing and TPMS. Motor control provides various competencies such as digital control for motor control in fuel pump, water pump, cooling fan, or turbo wastegate.

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