KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asic Bhd has started the design of 14 numeric matrix (nm) chips and intellectual property (IP) for use in automotive, computer and communication applications.
The company, which specialises in the design and manufacturing of Internet of Things (IoT) chips and systems, says the chips and IP are expected to be available in the middle of 2022 and will go into production subsequently.
"This chip and IP will be used to design system on chip (SoC) for Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and the chipsets in the computers and servers, networking products and communication chipsets.
"Additionally, the chips and the IP will also be developed for the automotive market with the necessary compliances," it said.
According to Key Asic, automotive chips were manufactured using older technologies in the past as they are not designed to be intelligent or have high performance.
With the complexity of electric vehicles demanding high and higher performance, many automotive compliant chips need to be designed in advanced technology nodes to deliver the necessary power and performance.
"The rapid growth of electronic vehicles has generated strong demand for automotive chips, and it is expected to have strong growth over the next 10 years.
"Traditionally, a car would have 100-300 chips, however, the electronic vehicles would use 1,000 to 3,000 chips depending on the complexity," it said.
Key Asic said the company recently experienced a surge in automotive chips orders, and the demand is expected to continue through 2022.
In addition to the increased demand for automotive chips, the company has orders booked for Asic production into the second half of 2022, it added.