LX Semicon has begun mass production of the LX61101, an automotive motor control microcontroller unit (MCU) developed for Hyundai Motor and Kia. This marks the company's first achievement in the automotive MCU sector, a new business area it has been building, and represents the first domestically produced MCU to be used in Hyundai Motor and Kia vehicles.
The LX61101 is optimized for motor control within automotive body electronics. As a core system semiconductor, it enables real-time motor control by monitoring speed, position, rotational direction, and torque, and is built around an ultra-compact design offering high performance and system efficiency. Based on a 40 MHz ARM Cortex-M3 core, the chip supports stable, precise motor control. It's used in applications such as automotive window safety systems, which automatically reverse and reopen a window when an object is detected during closing, as well as systems that manage automotive aerodynamics. Starting with vehicles Hyundai Motor and Kia plan to produce in the second half of this year, LX61101 will be rolled out across a broader range of models.
This achievement represents LX Semicon's first step into the automotive MCU space as part of its broader business expansion. The company has traditionally focused on display driver integrated circuits (DDIs), but since 2022 has been developing automotive MCUs as one of its future growth areas, driven by portfolio diversification, restructuring within the global automotive supply chain, and the broader shift toward vehicle electrification. LX Semicon aims to further expand its business by applying its MCU technology, already proven in home appliances, to new areas.
The LX61101 is drawing industry attention as the first domestically produced MCU used in Hyundai Motor and Kia vehicles. LX Semicon was selected as a new supplier for a motor-specialized MCU through Hyundai Motor and Kia's supplier selection process in March 2023, and received a supplier award later that same year in April. After three years of development and quality testing, the company successfully brought LX61101 into mass production. During development, the chip met AEC-Q100, the automotive semiconductor reliability standard, as well as ISO 26262, the functional safety standard.
LX61101 was developed and manufactured with support from domestic companies across the full supply chain management (SCM) process, spanning semiconductor design, foundry manufacturing, and back-end processing. Industry observers see this as significant, as it lays the groundwork for domestic automotive MCU production and marks the first instance where LX Semicon, Korea's leading fabless semiconductor company, along with Hyundai Motor, Kia, and the domestic system semiconductor manufacturing and back-end processing ecosystem, have come together within a single domestic supply chain.
As of 2025, the global automotive MCU market was estimated at approximately KRW 15.5 trillion. An LX Semicon official said that as part of the company's long-term strategy to grow its automotive MCU business, it plans to broaden its product portfolio beyond control MCUs to include communication, drive, sensor, and power MCUs. The official added that LX Semicon will continue pursuing new growth opportunities in automotive semiconductors while strengthening collaboration with domestic automakers and the broader semiconductor industry.
