Denso Corp., which has its North American Headquarters in Southfield, and Toyota Motor Corp., which operates a large R&D facility in the Ann Arbor area, are establishing a joint venture, starting next April, to research and develop the next-generation of in-vehicle semiconductors.
The companies believe the upgrade is key to safe and sustainable mobility in the future.
The new company will conduct advanced research on the basic structure and processing method of next-generation semiconductors and develop electronic components by implementing semiconductors, such as power modules for electric vehicles and periphery monitoring sensors for automated vehicles.
Last June, Denso and Toyota agreed to consolidate the electronic components production and development functions with Denso. Based on this agreement, they have been working to achieve a speedy and competitive production and development system.
“Denso has decided to establish the new company to establish a stronger system for R&D of semiconductors,” said a press release announcing the agreement. “Denso has agreed to accept equity participation from Toyota for the new company to accelerate the speed of development by taking full advantage of Toyota’s knowledge from a mobility viewpoint. Through equity participation in the new company, Toyota will achieve further technology innovations by introducing cutting-edge semiconductor technologies from the planning phase when developing its mobility services and vehicles.”
The joint venture, if approved by the necessary regulatory agencies, will be located at Denso’s world headquarters in Japan, will have 500 employees, and will be 51 percent owned by Denso and 49 percent by Toyota.
