●Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd. (HEI) announced today that it is accelerating the Microcontroller Unit (MCU) sector of its business for home appliances.
This move is part of HEI’s plan to balance its overall semiconductor business by enhancing the non-memory sector. HEI has completed development and started mass production of user-friendly MCUs for home appliances. Six different 8-bit MCU products are currently in production, all of which are targeted at middle- to large-sized home appliances or televisions (TV). The Hyundai MCU offering for middle- and large-sized home appliances consists of one Mask Read Only Memory (ROM) product, a One Time Programmable (OTP) product, two devices for refrigerators/washing machines, and two products for microwave ovens. These low-power products operate at 2.7 volts, handle external electric noise, and feature a digital converter, timer, and variable alarm function. These new Hyundai MCUs expand the options for customers by offering a variety of ROM sizes and package types. The MCU for microwave ovens is a particularly highly advanced product. It utilizes High-Voltage Processing Technology, which enables even 1.8~5-volt microwave ovens to operate at high-voltage ranges (in excess of 10 volts). HEI expects mass production of MCUs for middle- and large-sized home appliances will generate annual sales of approximately 10 billion Won. HEI has expanded its line of MCUs for TV, adding two new MCU devices to the existing product family of four On Screen Display (OSD) MCUs. These new products provide enhanced OSD and analog-to-digital converter functions, as well as expanded memory capacity. The TV MCUs have passed quality assurance testing, and HEI is now producing 200,000 units per month. Based on the technology used in these new products, HEI also plans to develop an English version of its MCU with a built-in Closed Caption Decoder (CCD) and an OSD MCU for TV. HEI expects sales in its non-memory semiconductor sector to reach US$700 million this year (a three-fold increase over last year) before climbing to US$ 1.3 billion in 2001. HEI forecasts that sales in non-memory sector will account for 20 percent of Hyundai’s total semiconductor sales by 2003.
