韩国初创 Anabatic Semi 推进 BMS 芯片本土化，但对 ADI 和德州仪器短线交易影响很小

Anabatic Semi, a fabless battery management system (BMS) semiconductor company, is establishing a system to self-develop and supply all three major types of chips: Analog Front-End (AFE), Microcontroller Unit (MCU), and communication chips. Anabatic Semi is the only company in South Korea currently developing and supplying all three types of BMS semiconductors simultaneously.
"Starting with the bundled supply of AFE and wired communication chips, we will sequentially enter the market with wireless chips and BMS MCUs, enabling our customers to configure their entire BMS using Anabatic Semi's chips," said Kim Jung-pyo, vice president of Anabatic Semi.
A BMS is a system that measures the voltage, current, and temperature of battery cells and controls their charging and discharging. The AFE converts analog signals coming from the cells into digital data and passes them to the MCU. The MCU acts as the brain, receiving this data to control the entire battery. The communication chip transfers data between the AFE and the MCU. Currently, this market is monopolized by American companies such as Analog Devices (ADI) and Texas Instruments (TI).
Anabatic Semi has set the Energy Storage System (ESS) market as its primary target. While it is difficult for a newcomer to enter the automotive sector due to the stringent certification requirements of finished car manufacturers, entering the ESS market is relatively easier as battery cell companies hold the leadership in system development. The company is currently in concrete discussions with domestic battery manufacturers regarding chip adoption.
The company's first product, the AFE chip 'ABS8210', can simultaneously measure 20 battery cells. Its key differentiator is the integration of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) directly onto the chip. EIS is a technology that detects abnormalities in advance by running a microcurrent through battery cells to read changes in internal resistance. It can sense thermal runaway 20 to 30 minutes faster than conventional methods. Evaluation is currently underway with the goal of mass production within this year.
The wired communication chip is ready to be supplied as a bundle with the AFE. For the wireless communication chip, the company plans to release its first product this year and start mass production in the second half of next year. Although the wireless chip uses the 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) band, the key lies in modem technology that can transmit signals without data loss in the sealed, high-noise environment inside a battery pack.
The BMS MCU is being developed with a prototype targeted for the second half of next year. Based on the ARM core, it will feature functional safety designs specialized for BMS and an internal architecture that reflects battery characteristics.
Anabatic Semi has raised a cumulative total of 22 billion won, including 7 billion won in Series A and 15 billion won in Series B funding.
Q&A
Q: Hello, this is Lee Soo-hwan from THE ELEC. Today, I would like to introduce a very interesting company. We have Vice President Kim Jung-pyo of Anabatic Semi with us. Hello, welcome. Looking at the company name, it's quite fascinating. It seems ANA stands for Analog, BAT for Battery, IC for Integrated Circuit, and Semi for Semiconductor. Is this composite meaning correct?
A: That is exactly correct.
Q: The name is incredibly intuitive. Could you briefly introduce the company?
A: I am Kim Jung-pyo, vice president of Anabatic Semi. What Anabatic Semi is preparing is a total semiconductor solution that goes into Battery Management Systems (BMS). We are developing three major types of products. The first is a measurement chip that can measure the voltage, current, and temperature of a battery. This is collectively called an Analog Front-End (AFE). The second is the MCU required for the BMS. Lastly, we have the communication chips that enable communication between the MCU and the AFE, and we are preparing both wired and wireless communication chips simultaneously. You can view us as developing products across these three major domains.
Q: A BMS manages the overall battery as its management system. As those in the communication field know, front-end chips usually attach to the periphery. It's an Analog Front-End chip, meaning it receives analog information and processes it at the front stage. Why is this chip necessary?
A: A battery is a passive device. It's a passive device that stores energy. Chemicals clump together to store energy. Therefore, for this device to transmit signals to the outside, an intermediate bridge is required. The chip serving as that bridge is the Analog Front-End chip. The information that the AFE can acquire from the battery includes voltage, current, and temperature, and reading this accurately is extremely critical. That is why the AFE is absolutely necessary.
Q: And the MCU serves as the brain that governs the entire system, correct?
A: The MCU of the BMS system acts as the brain for the entire BMS system.
Q: Does the communication chip play the role of sending the information received from the battery pack over to the MCU side?
A: Since the MCU acting as the brain needs the information from the battery modules and packs to perform signal processing, the communication chip plays the role of delivering those signals.
Q: Each of these three chips has a clearly distinct role. Looking at the semiconductor companies I've seen so far, some do all three while others do only a part of them. Is Anabatic Semi planning to offer all three as a total solution?
A: That's correct. That is one of Anabatic Semi's strengths. Our company is composed of personnel who can simultaneously cover the three fields of AFE (which handles the analog side), communication chips, and MCUs. In particular, we have people inside the company who understand batteries exceptionally well.
Q: First of all, the company's background is very unique. Your founder, CEO Sa-woong Jeong, served as the first head of Samsung's Foundry Business Division, and later as the head of Samsung SDI's Medium/Large-sized Battery Business Division. In a way, he is someone who has led both semiconductors and batteries, hasn't he?
A: Yes, so you can view him as representing the type of talent that deeply understands both batteries and semiconductors.
Q: The company was founded relatively recently, right?
A: It was around the end of May 2024. It has been just about two years.
Q: It hasn't been long, but looking at recent articles, it seems you have secured investments very successfully. What is the secret?
A: Companies doing BMS-related semiconductors are quite rare in South Korea. Looking back at the history of Korean semiconductors, especially the fabless side, it has historically followed a sequence where a downstream industry expands first, and then the semiconductor chips that support that downstream industry expand in tandem.
In the past, DDI companies entering the display sector grew significantly, followed by camera-related companies during the feature phone and smartphone era, and there were many fabless companies related to MP3 players when that market boomed. Now, everyone knows that the battery industry is growing massively. Since South Korea forms a "Top 2" tier globally alongside China in the battery sector, we believe that the semiconductor industry infrastructure supporting it must be established as well. We are moving forward with the mindset that securing semiconductor solutions capable of supporting batteries is essential to reducing foreign reliance in the battery electronics industry.
Q: There are no other domestic fabless companies doing all three—AFE, battery communication chips, and MCUs—simultaneously, right?
A: We are the only company covering all three domains at the same time.
Q: What I'm curious about is that there are already many veteran global semiconductor companies in this field. Companies like Analog Devices (ADI), STMicroelectronics (ST), and Texas Instruments (