Jan 12, 2023

Wonik Group establishes a new version of the DDI market Jan 11, 2023 Going beyond equipment, and starting fabless business Promoting to supply mobile DDI to Samsung Display Drawing attention with a competi <Wonik Pangyo office building (Photo=Wonik webpage)> Wonik Group is emerging as the center in the domestic display driving chip (DDI) industry.Wonik was a company that produced mainly semiconductor, display, and battery manufacturing equipment and materials, and was distant from semiconductor design (fabless). Wonik Group acquired a fabless company, Design 2 Innovation, and began commercialization.Design 2 Innovation is a DDI developing company established in December 2021. Last August, Wonik acquired the company for KRW 10.7 billion, and included the into its affiliates. The company's name has been changed to 'Wonik D2I' since then, and the company has been actively recruitingemployees. The initial number of employees were 6, and it has increased to 50 recently. It is unusual for Wonik to directly manufacture semiconductor chips, which is essentially fabless.Wonik has been known strongly for its 'equipment' company, which has supplied production facilities to Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display. The company’s total sales divided into semiconductor equipment, secondary battery equipment, and semiconductor/industrial gas, in which each accounted for 25%, 19%, and 57%, respectively, according to Wonik Holdings' quarterly report. Wonik originally planned to acquire the Magnachip DDI business; however, the deal was reportedly dropped due to disagreements over price. Then, the current situation was achieved with understanding both parties’ interest with Design 2 Innovation as Wonik was looking for a direct entry into the business. <Chairman of Wonik, Yonghan Lee> Wonik's DDI is under the spotlightsince it is expected to cooperate closely with Samsung Display, which is the largest display company in Korea.Wonik plans to produce DDI from D2I, and supply it to Samsung Display. There are several development projects are already in process. An industry insider familiar with the topic said, “The goal of Wonik is to supply mobile-use DDI to Samsung Display.” Samsung Display is No. 1 in the mobile organic light emitting diode (OLED) market. Samsung Display is the biggest customer, and considered as a market in itself in the DDI industry. Samsung Display has been receiving with mobile DDI from Samsung Electronics' System LSI, Magnachip, and Anapass; however,a change can be expected with the introduction of Wonik. The competition between MagnaChip and Wonik in DDI supply and a change in roles is under the spotlight as Wonik maintains a strong cooperative relationship with Samsung, while Magnachip sale is in the process. An industry insider familiar with the situation of both companies stated, “A significant change will occur with theselling of Magnachip.” DDI is a semiconductor that controls display pixels. It allows a picture or video appear on the display screen. A close cooperation between display companies and DDI companies is essential since it is a semiconductor that controls displays, and it is considered a key technology for displays. The government designated DDI for OLED as a national core technology in 2021. It was designated as a national core technology due to concerns about technology transfer to China when Magnachip promoted to be sold overseas. <Image of D2I Semiconductor (Photo = webpage)> By Staff Reporter Dongjoon Kwon (djkwon@etnews.com)