Microchip Expands Connected Vehicle Market Leadership with Acquisition of ADAS and Digital Cockpit Connectivity Pioneer VSI Co. Ltd.

Acquisition adds ASA Motion Link technology to Microchip’s broad Ethernet and PCIe® automotive networking portfolio to support next-generation software-defined vehicles

Microchip Technology Inc. announced today that it has completed its acquisition of VSI Co. Ltd., a Seoul, South Korea-based company that is an industry leader in providing high-speed asymmetric camera, sensor and display connectivity technologies and products based on the Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA), an open standard for in-vehicle networking (IVN). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to Yole Group [Source: LiDAR for Automotive - Status of the Radar-Camera Industry for Automotive - Yole Intelligence, 2023.], the market for automotive radar, camera and LiDAR modules is expected to more than triple between 2022 and 2028 to reach $27 billion. Growth is driven by the increasing adoption of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), in-cabin monitoring, safety and convenience features (e.g., 360-degree surround view, e-mirrors), and multi-screen digital cockpits in next-generation software-defined vehicles (SDVs). These applications will require more highly asymmetric raw data and video links and higher bandwidths, making current proprietary serializer/deserializer (SerDes)-based solutions commercially and technically unsuitable. In response to these developments, the Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA) was founded in 2019 and released the first open standard ASA Motion Link (ASA-ML) specification.

“This acquisition brings VSI’s expertise, market reach and ASA Motion Link technology and products to Microchip’s broad portfolio of connected vehicles to better serve the ADAS industry megatrends we are focusing on,” said Mitch Obolsky, senior vice president of Microchip’s automotive , networking and data center business units. “Camera and display connectivity is one of the fastest growing and largest IVN markets as the industry converges around the three IVN pillars of Ethernet, PCIe® and ASA Motion Link. With VSI, Microchip now offers products across all three pillars, and can provide customers with automotive safety, MCU, motor control, touchscreen and power management solutions to support their next-generation software-defined vehicle architectures.”

Currently, ASA has more than 145 members, including Microchip as a founding member. The alliance has 11 automakers including BMW, GM, Ford, Stellantis and Hyundai-Kia Motors, and also includes an ecosystem from Tier 1 suppliers, semiconductor and imager suppliers to testing and compliance companies. In addition to being an open standard, ASA-ML also has link layer security and scalability, supporting line rates from 2 Gbps to 16 Gbps. In addition, the upcoming specification update will enable ASA-ML to support Ethernet-based architectures.

“Microchip Technology is a proven and trusted market leader in connected vehicles, renowned for quality and a strong supply chain, and our team is excited to join them in the growing ADAS and digital cockpit connectivity market,” said Steve Kang, CEO of VSI Co. Ltd. “VSI is a leader in ASA-ML product development and the first to market. Our standard-compliant chipsets are being evaluated by automakers around the world. We recently conducted a proof of concept with BMW to demonstrate ASA-ML and our production-ready products. This acquisition brings together two companies that share a common commitment to driving technology through innovation. We look forward to successfully deploying our solutions to production vehicles in the coming years.”

In March 2024, the BMW Group announced at the Automotive Ethernet Conference in Munich that it would use standardized ASA-ML in its upcoming products. BMW has always been at the forefront of in-vehicle network innovation and firmly believes in the importance of leveraging standardized technologies in vehicle architecture and video architecture.

For more information on ASA Motion Link products, please contact your local Microchip sales team.

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