[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Power semiconductor specialist KEC is showing strong performance. The news that it will supply five types of products, including new IGBT products and small-signal products, to global electric vehicle manufacturers appears to have influenced its stock price.
As of 10:13 AM on the 13th, KEC was trading at 2,435 KRW, up 14.59% (310 KRW) compared to the previous trading day.
IGBT, one of the power semiconductor product groups, is a semiconductor device for power equipment that controls current through gate voltage. KEC explained that it reduces power loss while enhancing performance in electric vehicles, where energy efficiency is crucial.
KEC's newly supplied IGBT product 'KGF30N120KA' is applied to the BDU, a component of the electric vehicle battery system. The BDU is a part that connects or disconnects power between the electric vehicle battery pack and internal circuits, supporting stable power supply from the battery and protecting the vehicle.
A KEC official said, "KGF30N120KA is a 1200V product applying trench field-stop process and has obtained AEC-Q certification, a reliability evaluation standard for automotive components. It is provided in the industry-standard TO-247 package and will also be offered in a D2PAK package to keep up with SET space efficiency and miniaturization trends."
He added, "KEC products are continuously adopted in key electric vehicle components based on high reliability. We plan to steadily expand our presence in the global electric vehicle market based on new vehicle component applications."
KEC recorded sales of 125.1 billion KRW, operating profit of 10 billion KRW, and net profit of 15.6 billion KRW in the first half of this year. Compared to the same period last year, sales increased by 40%, operating profit turned positive, and net profit rose significantly.
KEC began full-scale investment in 2006 to transform into a power semiconductor company based on its quality accumulated through analog small-signal semiconductor technologies such as transistors and diodes. In 2019, its 50th anniversary, KEC announced the KEC Group Vision 2025 and committed to competing in the power semiconductor industry. KEC has strengths in inverter efficiency improvement technology for motor driving, power semiconductor manufacturing technology for key inverter components, and system configuration technology covering switching devices to control SoC (System on Chip).
KEC, which carries out power and semiconductor commercialization business, succeeded last month in developing SiC MOSFET power semiconductors, a technology achieved by only two companies in advanced countries. Furthermore, KEC is developing vertical structure-based products that enable miniaturization and high efficiency of semiconductor devices. To compete with global companies, it has secured about 50 core experts and plans to increase facility investments in domestic and overseas production bases to expand insufficient production infrastructure.
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