By Vishal Malhotra, National Sales Head – Automotive, Infineon Technologies
Mr. Vishal Malhotra is the National Sales Head, for the Automotive Division at Infineon Technologies, India. Besides developing strong relationships with leading OEMs and Tier-1 players at all levels, he is mainly responsible for establishing a direct market for Infineon in the country, in addition to growth of the existing indirect market share in the automotive sector country-wide. In order to expand outreach and forge stronger customer relationships, he has his role in organising customer-specific technology shows, seminars and road-shows.
We believe there are four megatrends that are already shaping the future automotive market wherein the semiconductor content per vehicle will significantly increase. They are: the evolution from ADAS to autonomous driving, electrification of powertrain, advanced connectivity and advanced security. These evolving megatrends have in turn shaped Infineon’s holistic view on applications, and our “product-to-system” (P2S) approach, which increases Infineon’s value proposition to our customers.
Infineon is the system leader with the most balanced product portfolio making cars clean, safe and smart. We cover the entire control loop (sense, compute, actuate) in powertrain, safety/ADAS, and comfort/body applications. Infineon is in an ideal position to benefit from these megatrends and to gain further market share in automotive. Take the 77 GHz mid and long range radar sensors for ADAS, Infineon is the market leader with 20m sensor chips already shipped. IHS Market estimated that ADAS sensor market is poised to grow at 50 percent CAGR from 2016 to 2021.
Meanwhile, growth in xEV will increase demand for more power semiconductors. Infineon is already the number one and technology leader in power semiconductors. Recently, Infineon announced its plans to acquire Wolfspeed. The combination will further strengthen Infineon as a leading supplier of power and radio-frequency (RF) power solutions in high-growth markets such as electro-mobility, renewables and next-generation cellular infrastructure relevant for the Internet of Things (IoT).
In Germany, a “Digital Autobahn Test Zone” was set up in June this year that will pave the way for state-of-the-art radar sensor technology to be used on the A9 autobahn in Bavaria, Germany, to obtain highly accurate real-time data on traffic flow, traffic density, speed and driving behaviour. The A9 lays the foundation for smart traffic control and communication between vehicles and infrastructure. Data will be available openly on the Cloud so that entrepreneurs can use the data to develop digital applications for automated and connected driving. Sensors, controllers, power electronics and security chips from Infineon make reliable collection and processing of data from their surroundings, exchange of data with the infrastructure and other vehicles possible. Infineon will supply the necessary radar components and provide expertise on integrating them into the overall system.
In India, body applications such as lighting and powertrain applications such as EFI, as well as engine management will continue to be Infineon’s current focus on the market. We plan to develop powertrain and safety solutions to cater to the two-wheeler and four-wheeler industries’ demand focusing on meeting emission and safety standards for the Indian market in the next 4 to 6 years. One such demand is the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) in light commercial and heavy-duty vehicles. A European Commission DG Clima-sponsored study on TPMS estimated that properly maintaining the tyre inflation pressure can reduce the number of speed and tyre related accidents by 4% to 20%. For long-haul operations, it also found that fuel efficiency and CO2 emission reduction improved.