[Future Unicorns in the Semiconductor Industry] BOS Semiconductors - Developing Key System-on-Chip(SoC) for Autonomous Driving

BOS Semiconductors is an automotive fabless company that specializes in the development of System-on-Chip (SoC) for key vehicle functions.

The company is currently developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) accelerator semiconductor which accelerates the heavy data processing tasks of neural network models used in autonomous driving systems for various perception and decision-making tasks.

Aligning with the transition of electric and electronic systems in vehicles to zonal architectures, the company also aims to develop mega-MCUs which are chips with high computing power and integrates the function of multiple microcontroller units (MCUs) into a single chip. Gateway SoC is also part of the company's future product roadmap and is responsible for handling data routing within the vehicle's network and domain-specific computing unit functions. Ultimately, BOS Semiconductors aims to develop a 'Super SoC' that integrates all electrical and electronic functions of a vehicle into a single chip.

Given the need for the convergence and integration of various semiconductor technologies, developing such products require high technological cpability. In particular, semiconductor technology supporting Level 3 or higher autonomous driving that minimizes human driver's intervention is extremely complex and requires high levels of precision and reliability.

BOS Semiconductors is leveraging its extensive experience in automotive semiconductor design and commercialization to independently develop a SoC design platform. This platform will accelerate the speed of semiconductor development across the company's different target products and facilitate performance enhancement.

The startup has rapidly expanded its R&D capabilities in order to fulfill its ambition. In just 18 months since its establishment, BOS Semiconductors has secured over 80 engineering professionals specializing in high-performance SoC design and development.

In 2023, BOS Semiconductors obtained ISO9001 certification for quality management systems. This is an important step towards acquiring ISO26262 FSM certification, the international standard for automotive functional safety, which is essential for entering the automotive market. Additionally, they have entered into development agreements for automotive semiconductors with major partners in the semiconductor value chain, including Tenstorrent, ADTechnology, Synopsys, ARM, OPENEDGES and Rambus.

[Interview with Jaehong Park, CEO of BOS Semiconductors]

"BOS Semiconductors' core strengths lie in our proprietary SoC development platform enabling efficient development of high-performance automotive semiconductors and our ability to leverage our network across different players in the semiconductor value chain for effective collaboration."

Jaehong Park, CEO of BOS Semiconductors and a former Samsung Electronics Executive Vice President, is an industry expert with over 25 years of experience in high-end semiconductor design. Asked about his motivation for founding BOS Semiconductors, he stated, "I started this journey with a sense of deep responsibility to contribute to the advancement of the domestic fabless industry. Driven by the challenge of realizing the full potential of Korea's fabless ecosystem so that it can compete with global companies such as MediaTek, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm, we founded Bos Semiconductor."

BOS Semiconductors is proactively securing the technology for its own automotive SoC development platform. Anticipating the rapid growth of the automotive semiconductor industry driven by the introduction of new mobility technologies such as autonomous driving, the platform will serve as a critical foundation for developing high-performance SoCs. CEO Park emphasized, "We are rapidly recruiting excellent semiconductor design professionals with track records of successful chip development to further enhance our capabilities."

Recognized for its technological prowess, the company was able to raise 9 billion Korean Won in investment with major investors such as Hyundai Motor, Kia, and STIC Ventures in the first half of this year. The company has also gained various government recognition this year including being selected by the Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups in the 2023 Fabless Challenge.

CEO Park stated, "Based on our core technology in semiconductor design and software, we are developing customized automotive semiconductors for automotive OEM and Tier 1 customers. In the long term, we plan to diversify our products and expand our business into other future mobility areas such as Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and robotics."

Electronic Times: https://www.etnews.com/20231206000234