Infineon and LS Industrial Systems form a JV to make IGBT power modules

The Korean company LS Industrial Systems and Infineon Technologies AG have established a new joint venture called LS Power Semitech Co., Ltd. to design and make molded IGBT based power modules for motor operated home appliances such as washing machines, Air conditioners and refrigerators. LS Industrial Systems holds 54 percent and Infineon 46 percent of the joint venture with headquarters at LS Industrial Systems' site in the city of Cheonan which is located around 160 kilometers to the south of Seoul.

Discrete power semiconductor switches such as IGBT and MOSFETs are used in controlling the speed of the motor in home appliances for different modes of their operation to save power. Infineon is the leading vendor of power semiconductor devices and modules, where as companies in South Korea are leading producers of home appliances. Through this joint -venture Infineon reaches this key market by locally producing power modules.

Infineon will provide the joint venture with licenses to IP as well as technology and process know-how on its power module family CIPOS (Control Integrated Power System), and will transfer existing CIPOS backend manufacturing equipment from Regensburg, Germany. Both companies will closely cooperate in terms of marketing, international sales, and new product developments. LS Power Semitech expects to begin mass production for CIPOS modules by January 2010 in its Cheonan manufacturing site.

According to the current market report of the research firm IMS Research, Infineon holds the number one market position in semiconductor discretes and modules for power electronics having a 9.7 percent market share within the overall global market of US Dollar $13.6 billion in 2007.

CIPOS also called as Intelligent Power Modules integrate IGBTs, anti-parallel diodes and gate drivers in single module