“Dominating the AI Semiconductor Design Market”… Japanese Government and Son Jeong-ui Join Forces
Bloomberg News reported on the 6th (local time), citing anonymous sources, that SoftBank’s acquisition negotiations for the U.S. semiconductor design company Ampere are making progress. It is reported that the acquisition price for Ampere is being discussed at around $6.5 billion, including debt. Ampere is owned by Oracle (29%) as its largest shareholder. Oracle and SoftBank, along with OpenAI, are key operators of the $500 billion AI infrastructure project ‘Stargate’.
The semiconductor industry is analyzing that Chairman Son is moving to dominate the global AI data center market. Industry observers say that if he acquires Arm, the world’s strongest low-power semiconductor ‘design board’, and Ampere, a powerful American fabless company, he will reach the ‘ninth ridge’ for manufacturing AI chips. Chairman Son also revealed this ambition in a meeting with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on the 4th. It is reported that he proposed that Softbank take charge of AI chip design and form a manufacturing alliance with Samsung.
MBK Partners Acquires Japanese Semiconductor Substrate Manufacturer for 950 Billion Won
Private equity fund (PEF) management company MBK Partners is acquiring FICT (formerly Fujitsu Interconnect Technologies), a printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer, for approximately 100 billion yen (950 billion won).
According to local foreign news and the investment banking (IB) industry on the 6th, FICT is a substrate manufacturer with high-density and high-speed data transmission technology, and has produced the substrates for the supercomputers Fugaku and Kei.
Through this transaction, MBK will acquire 80% of the shares from the investment fund Advantage Partners, which held a 100% stake, and Formfactor, a US semiconductor inspection equipment company, will acquire 20%. Formfactor uses FICT substrates as the main components of semiconductor inspection equipment. Through this partnership, the company aims to expand its global customer base.
Japan, Intel Join Hands to Create Next-Generation Quantum Computers
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 6th, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan has decided to develop a quantum computer at the Ibaraki Quantum Research Center, which will open this spring, using Intel’s cutting-edge chips. The two sides have already signed a memorandum of cooperation and will make an official announcement soon.
What they are jointly developing is a ‘silicon quantum computer’. They have set a goal of developing a quantum computer with tens of thousands of quantum bits (qubits) by the early 2030s. It is more than 100 times the performance of the current mainstream quantum computers, Nihon Keizai reported. A qubit is a calculation unit that indicates the performance level of a quantum computer.
Google, cloud performance sluggish… Investing 100 trillion in AI this year
According to foreign media outlets such as TechCrunch on the 6th, Google Alphabet recorded cloud sales of $11.96 billion (approximately 17.37 trillion won) in the fourth quarter of last year. Sales increased by 30% year-on-year, but the growth rate was 35% lower than the previous quarter. This performance fell short of Wall Street’s expectations of $12.19 billion (approximately 17.7 trillion won).
Google plans to invest $75 billion (about 108.9 trillion won) in AI infrastructure this year to improve its poor performance in the cloud sector. This is more than double the $32.3 billion (about 46.9 trillion won) it invested in AI in 2023. It is also higher than the previous Wall Street estimate of $57.9 billion (about 84.708 trillion won).
Of this, 16 to 18 billion dollars (about 23 to 26 trillion won) are expected to occur in the first quarter of this year.
Philoptics to strengthen new semiconductor business… Recruiting former Samsung SDI Vice President Baek-Kyun Lim
On the 5th, Philoptics announced that it recently recruited former Samsung SDI Vice President Baek-Kyun Lim as the new business division president. President Lim is a semiconductor expert who graduated from Kyunghee University’s Department of Electronic Engineering, joined Samsung Electronics, and worked in the memory division for over 30 years. He led Samsung Electronics’ Chinese production base, Xi’an Production Corporation (SCS), for three years, and after moving to Samsung SDI, he served as the head of the Technology Innovation Center and the Manufacturing Technology Center for the Medium and Large Battery Division.
Philoptics evaluated that President Lim would be suitable for creating synergy between Philoptics and Phil Energy as he has high expertise in the semiconductor and battery sectors and a history of operating overseas infrastructure.
TSMC Activates ‘US Tariff Avoidance’ Strategy… Holds Board Meeting in US for the First Time, Considers Establishing Additional Factories
According to industry sources on the 3rd, TSMC will hold its first-ever board meeting in the US on the 12th. The purpose is to emphasize that TSMC’s Arizona semiconductor plant is playing a key role in the US semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in line with President Trump’s “Made in America” policy. There is speculation that TSMC will have its board members directly inspect the operating status of the Arizona fab after the local meeting.
As pressure from President Trump grows, there is speculation that TSMC may expand its manufacturing plants in the U.S. to four or more or establish additional advanced semiconductor packaging (back-end) production facilities.
MagnaChip Semiconductor to be sold after 4 years… LX, Doosan, DB acquisition candidates
Magnachip Semiconductor, a domestic system semiconductor company listed on the U.S. stock market, has started looking for a new owner. It has been about four years since it attempted to sell to China in 2021, but was thwarted by the U.S. government.
The market capitalization of Magnachip, which was being acquired by a Chinese private equity fund (PEF) for 1.6 trillion won at the time, has now plummeted to around 200 billion won.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 2nd, MagnaChip has appointed a foreign IB as the lead manager and has entered into the sale of management rights. It is known that they have met with executives from similar industries such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, LX Group, Doosan Group, and DB HiTek to sound out potential acquisition intentions.
MagnaChip is a semiconductor company that mainly produces display driver ICs (DDIs) used in TVs and smartphones and power semiconductors for vehicles at its Gumi plant in Gyeongbuk. The selling side is pushing forward with a plan to sell only the DDI business division among the two businesses. Early last year, MagnaChip separated the DDI division into a wholly owned subsidiary, MagnaChip Mixed Signal, and has been operating it.
Head-on battle with China’s BYD… Volkswagen to release electric car in ’30 million won range’
There are reports that Volkswagen is planning to launch an electric car priced at 20,000 euros (about 30 million won) to counter the low-price offensive of Chinese electric cars.
According to the British daily Telegraph on the 6th (local time), Volkswagen released an image of the new electric vehicle model ‘ID.1’ that will go into production starting in 2027.
Volkswagen brand chief executive Thomas Schaefer has said the ID 1 will be an affordable, high-quality and profitable electric car “for Europe.” The Telegraph reports that the ID 1 is believed to be an electric hatchback.
Nikola to File for Bankruptcy Soon, Next Lucid?
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 6th (local time) that Nikola, an American hydrogen truck manufacturer, will soon file for bankruptcy. WSJ reported this, citing a source familiar with the company.
The company is working with law firm Pillsbury to explore all options, including a sale or restructuring, and is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection, the people said.
Headquartered in Phoenix, Nikola was once a thriving company with a market cap of more than $30 billion, surpassing U.S. auto giant Ford.
SK On’s Tennessee plant operation postponed due to ‘electric vehicle chasm’
SK On announced on the 6th that it will reexamine the schedule for the commercial operation (SOP) of the Blue Oval SK Tennessee plant, which was originally scheduled for this year, considering the market situation such as the electric vehicle chasm (temporary stagnation in demand). However, it predicted that even if there are changes to the system due to the inauguration of the new U.S. administration, the impact will be limited.
SK On announced in a performance conference call on the same day, “We had planned to have SOP for the Tennessee plant in 2025, but we are currently re-examining the optimal SOP timing considering market conditions, etc., and currently expect operation to commence in 2026.”
Blue Oval SK, a battery production joint venture between SK On and Ford Motor Company of the United States, is building a total of three factories in the United States, including Kentucky Plants 1 and 2 and Tennessee Plant. Kentucky Plant 1 is scheduled to undergo SOP sequentially starting in the second quarter of this year.
Hyundai temporarily halts production of some electric vehicles
According to the automobile industry on the 6th, Hyundai Motor Company will suspend operations and close Line 12 of its Ulsan Plant 1 (Ioniq 5 and Kona EV production) from the 24th to the 28th.
It has been reported that the reason for the suspension was to adjust production volume due to sluggish domestic sales and decreased orders. In January of this year, the domestic sales of the Ioniq 5 were only 75 units, and last year’s sales were around 16,600 units, which is being evaluated as lower than expected.
Hyundai Motor Company has attempted to overcome sluggish sales by strengthening financial benefits and offering discounts of 1 to 3 million won, but empty conveyor belts are still running without any vehicles to assemble on the Ioniq 5 and Kona EV production lines.
China’s CATL secures 11 trillion won in ammunition… K-battery threatens to ‘hold on’
According to major foreign news outlets such as Bloomberg on the 7th, CATL will submit an initial public offering (IPO) application for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as early as this month. Bloomberg estimated that CATL will be able to raise more than 5 billion dollars (about 7.234 trillion won) in funds within the first half of this year, and Morgan Stanley predicted that the amount could reach up to 7.8 billion dollars. The company, which is already listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in mainland China, has a market capitalization of 1.1145 trillion yuan (about 221.3209 trillion won).
Previously, CATL had selected JP Morgan and Bank of America as lead underwriters and was expected to be listed within the first half of the year.
LNF “LFP Cathode Material, Directly Reviewing Commercialization in the US”
LNF announced on the 5th that it is also reviewing a plan to directly produce in the United States the low- to mid-priced lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material products that it is promoting as a new business.
In a conference call announcing its performance on the same day, LNF explained, “We are basically preparing for LFP in a ‘two-track’ manner. First, we are reviewing domestic production as a priority, and second, we are also considering direct commercialization in the United States.”
L&F plans to grow this year through new product launches and new business expansion.
Following the world’s first mass production of 95% nickel content cathode material for 46-pi batteries last year, we are preparing to supply a new 95% nickel product for 2170 cylindrical batteries, and are scheduled to ship from the end of the first quarter of this year.
Investment in bipolar materials continues to decline… Operational targets lowered
LG Chem decided to reduce its 2026 production target from 200,000 tons to 170,000 tons in a conference call held this month.
LG Chem announced in July last year that it was lowering its 2026 production target from 280,000 tons to 200,000 tons. This is an additional target reduction in just half a year.
Last year, the cathode material industry significantly revised its production targets. This is because the prediction that electrification would proceed rapidly was significantly off the mark. POSCO Holdings lowered its production target for 2026 from 445,000 tons to 395,000 tons. EcoPro Group also postponed its target of securing 710,000 tons by three years to 2030.
Mind AI, GINT and Agricultural Machinery Autonomous Driving Supply Contract
On the 6th, MindAI announced that it signed a contract with GINT to supply autonomous driving agricultural machinery. According to the contract, MindAI will supply its WoRV autonomous driving module to GINT’s new product, ‘Fluva SS (speed sprayer)’ mass production product. It announced that the ‘WoRV’ technology, which was first revealed by winning the excellent paper award at NeurIPS in December of last year, was commercialized and a contract was signed in just 3 months.
According to the contract, Mind AI plans to complete the delivery of WoRV modules within the first half of this year. The ‘Fluva SS’ machine is a mobile agricultural machine that sprays pesticides in orchards, and with the introduction of this autonomous driving technology, it can automatically set a path, avoid obstacles, and perform tasks within the orchard without a driver on board.
Hulim Robot Joins Hands with Chinese Robot Company to Strengthen Competitiveness of Autonomous Mobile Robots
Hulim Robot announced on the 5th that it signed an MOU with China’s Omark along with its existing partner, IQCELL, to strengthen its competitiveness in the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) market. This agreement was made with the purpose of expanding the business of utilizing AMR technology to implement smart factories and increase the efficiency of logistics and production processes.
Under this agreement, Omark will be responsible for the supply, quality control, and technical support of AMR products, while Hulim Robot will be responsible for customized development based on its technical understanding of Omark products to meet domestic customer needs. EQCELL will lead the sales and demo line construction for delivery to end users. The three companies plan to work together to provide customized solutions for customers.
RS Automation Secures Core Robot and Drone Components Technology
RS Automation announced on the 7th that it has applied for two patents for core robot and drone components. These are electrostatic capacitive encoder technologies, one of the robot module components.
Capacitive encoders are a key component of various guided weapons, such as the Israeli military’s air defense system, ‘Iron Dome’, and domestic low-altitude interceptor missiles. They are evaluated as essential components in the defense industry due to their characteristics of being unaffected by vibration, radio interference, electromagnetic interference (EMI), and radio frequency interference (RFI).
The electrostatic capacity encoder being developed by RS Automation is 20% to 30% smaller and uses 10% less electricity than a typical encoder.
Doosan Robotics to supply 300 collaborative robots to Thai robot SI company VRNJ
Doosan Robotics announced on the 5th that it signed a business agreement (MOU) to supply 300 collaborative robots to ‘VRNJ’, a robot system integration (SI) company in Bangkok, Thailand.
Doosan Robotics has agreed to supply 300 units of its four types of collaborative robot models (A, H, M, and P series) to VRNJ over the next two years. 60 units have been pre-ordered.
Additionally, the two companies agreed to cooperate to develop various solutions to be applied in production sites and to discover demand sources in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Inox Advanced Materials’ operating profit doubles
Innox Advanced Materials, a KOSDAQ-listed company, announced on the 5th that its sales and operating profit for the fourth quarter of last year were 104.1 billion won and 24.9 billion won, respectively. Sales increased by 24.6% and operating profit by 1,114.6% compared to the same period last year. Total sales last year were 422.8 billion won, up 9.3% from the previous year (35.8 billion won), and operating profit increased by 105.9% to 86.8 billion won.
A company official explained, “The response to our new products, including large-size OLED (organic light-emitting diode) films, has been good,” and “As sales of high value-added new products have increased, profits have also improved significantly.”
Innox Advanced Materials manufactures OLED films for displays, circuit materials, and materials for semiconductor packages.
KPS, Korea Global Pharmaceutical merger… Pharmaceutical company transformation begins
KPS is seeking to transform from an OLED (organic light-emitting diode) equipment manufacturer to a pharmaceutical and bio company through the merger and absorption of its wholly owned subsidiary, Korea Global Pharmaceutical.
KPS announced on the 4th that the board of directors decided to conduct a small-scale merger with its 100% subsidiary, Korea Global Pharmaceutical. As a result, KPS’s main business will effectively change from OLED equipment to pharmaceuticals in terms of sales.
Korea Global Pharmaceutical was established in 2009 and has been selling finished drugs to many medical institutions since 2011 after obtaining professional and general drug approvals. In 2017, it passed the GMP (Manufacturing Quality Management Standards) inspection by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and exceeded KRW 30 billion in sales for the first time. Sales and operating profit in 2023 were KRW 39 billion and KRW 2.2 billion, respectively.
Source: kipost.net