A Market on the Edge of Transformation
The automotive world is quietly but rapidly moving into a new era where semiconductors are no longer just components, but the very backbone of innovation.
In the age of electric and autonomous vehicles, a single car can contain as many as 3,000 chips—ranging from basic MCUs for control, to high-performance AI processors, and advanced power semiconductors.
AI Strategica forecasted that the global automotive semiconductor industry, valued at roughly 54 billion dollars in 2024, will more than double to exceed 100 billion dollars by 2032.
For Korea, however, there is a sobering fact: more than 95 percent of these chips are still imported, leaving the industry exposed to global supply chain instability and geopolitical disruptions.
Hyundai Mobis Steps Beyond Procurement
Hyundai Mobis is determined to challenge that dependence head-on. In its latest announcement, the company declared an ambitious plan to internalize semiconductor development, positioning itself not just as a buyer but as a designer and producer. For 2025, Mobis has already begun mass production of 16 in-house designed chips, supplying around 20 million units annually through external foundries.
By 2026–2028, the company aims to bring silicon-based IGBTs and silicon carbide (SiC-MOSFET) power semiconductors into direct production for EV inverters and propulsion systems.
Its long-term target is to raise the localization rate of automotive semiconductors in Korea to 10 percent by 2030.
To achieve this, Mobis has built partnerships with more than 20 domestic fabless and design firms and has even established a research foothold in Silicon Valley. In effect, the company is signaling its intent to lead the creation of a “K-automotive semiconductor ecosystem.”
Where AI Meets EV: The New Battleground
This move is not only about securing power semiconductors. It speaks to the broader convergence of AI and EVs, where semiconductor dominance is becoming the new battlefield. In the era of autonomous driving, chips are the brains behind sensor fusion, deep learning, and real-time inference. In the EV era, SiC power devices directly dictate driving range, charging speed, and efficiency.
In short, the ability to control semiconductor technology is equivalent to controlling the future competitiveness of vehicles themselves.
Against the backdrop of U.S. IRA rules, European supply chain mandates, and intensifying global regulation, Hyundai Mobis’s strategy looks less like a technical milestone and more like a deliberate geoeconomic choice. It could allow Korea’s automotive sector to step beyond assembly and take on the role of shaping global supply networks.
Strategic Questions That Cannot Be Avoided
The big question is whether this transformation will be enough. Infineon, Renesas, NXP and other global players are already entrenched in the market. Can Hyundai Mobis shift Korea’s position from that of a fast follower to a genuine game changer?
More importantly, industry insiders will need to grapple with a series of strategic questions that go beyond simple growth targets.
- Can Korea’s automakers translate in-house semiconductor capacity into real global market share, or will they remain in limited niches?
- As EV adoption accelerates and autonomous driving becomes mainstream, how far can Korea’s supply chain model stand independently amid geopolitical frictions?
- To compete with the giants, what balance of government support and private-sector collaboration is truly required?
- And perhaps most importantly, will internalizing semiconductor design lead only to cost control, or can it deliver genuine product differentiation on the global stage?
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