SK Hynix wins Europe certification for automotive chips

The certification is expected to boost demand for NAND Flash and solid-state drives

SK Hynix's headquarters 
SK Hynix's headquarters 
Ye-Rin Choi 1
2023-06-20 20:08:23 rambutan@hankyung.com
Korean chipmakers

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.

SK Hynix's 238-layer 4D NAND chips and products
SK Hynix's 238-layer 4D NAND chips and products

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. 

SK Hynix steps up chip stacking war with 238-layer 4D NAND

SK Hynix steps up chip stacking war with 238-layer 4D NAND

SK Hynix's 238-layer 4D NAND chips and products SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker after Samsung Electronics Co., has begun mass production of the industry’s highest-layered and smallest NAND chips, intensifying the race to develop chip stacking technology to

SK Hynix launches portable SSD Beetle X31

 SK Hynix launches portable SSD Beetle X31

SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, unveiled its latest product, the Beetle X31, a portable Solid State Drive (SSD) designed for general consumers in the domestic market, as announced on May 5. The X31 stands as SK Hynix's debut external SSD offering, disti

SK Hynix’s latest 1b nm DDR5 DRAM chip under Intel test run

SK Hynix’s latest 1b nm DDR5 DRAM chip under Intel test run

SK Hynix's 64 GB DDR5 server DRAM made using its 1b technology SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker after Samsung Electronics Co., said on Tuesday it has supplied its latest DDR5 DRAM chips made with its cutting-edge 1b technology to Intel Corp. for compatibility che

SK Hynix expects second-half market recovery after record Q1 loss

SK Hynix expects second-half market recovery after record Q1 loss

SK Hynix's DRAM plant in Icheon SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, said on Wednesday it expects the global semiconductor market to rebound in the second half after it posted a record quarterly loss due to a continued supply glut.The South Korean chipmaker said the

SK Hynix unveils industry’s slimmest 12-layer, 24 GB HBM3 chip

SK Hynix unveils industry’s slimmest 12-layer, 24 GB HBM3 chip

SK Hynix's HBM3 DRAM chip SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, said on Thursday it has developed the world’s first 12-layer DRAM product with a 24 gigabyte (GB) memory capacity, the industry’s largest.Called HBM3, short for High Bandwidth Memory 3, the c

(* comment hide *}