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DENSO and Toyota Form JV for R&D of In-Vehicle Semiconductors

July 11, 2019 by Scott McMahan

DENSO Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation agreed to establish a joint venture for R&D of next-generation in-vehicle semiconductors. The two companies will study the details and aim to establish the new company in April 2020.

Over the next several years Toyoda also intends to come out with a line-up of fully electric vehicles.

DENSO notes that electronic controls are increasingly implemented into vehicles. Furthermore, the number of in-vehicle semiconductors has also grown, and the performance of these semiconductors has continuously improved.

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Therefore, in order to create a future of mobility that is safe and sustainable, DENSO says it is necessary to develop next-generation semiconductors that are essential to technology innovations including connected cars, automated driving, sharing mobility, and electrification.

In June 2018, DENSO and Toyota agreed to consolidate the production and development of electronic components to DENSO. Based on this agreement, they have been striving to achieve a speedy and competitive production and development system.

DENSO has chosen to establish the new company for research and advanced development of in-vehicle semiconductors, and it will establish a stronger system for R&D of semiconductors.

With DENSO agreed to accept equity participation from Toyota for the new company, it intends to accelerate the speed of development by taking full advantage of Toyota's mobility expertise.

Through equity participation in the joint venture, Toyota will achieve further technology innovations when developing its mobility services by introducing cutting-edge semiconductor technologies from the planning phase.

The new company will perform advanced research on the basic structure and processing methods of next-generation semiconductors. It will also develop electronic components based on this semiconductor technology such as power modules for electric vehicles and periphery monitoring sensors for automated vehicles.