IEL Science Acquires iTronics... "Strengthening Future Car Business"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] KOSDAQ-listed company IL Science announced on the 6th that it has signed a contract to acquire 80% of the shares of Aitronics, which holds core technologies of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) and vehicle ITS products, together with a financial investor (FI), to strengthen its business in the future car market.

Through the share acquisition, the company plans to strengthen its business based on the core technologies in the cooperative intelligent transport system field possessed by Aitronics. It plans to specialize in the wireless data exchange (V2X: Vehicle-to-Everything communication) sector between vehicles and between vehicles and road infrastructure using the WAVE method, which the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is scheduled to establish in the fourth quarter of this year.

Founded in 2000 by researchers from LG Electronics, Aitronics is a technology-leading company possessing ETC (Electronic Toll Collection System) terminal and system design technology, digital image processing technology, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design technology, and RF design technology. It holds comprehensive capabilities in designing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) for vehicles, IT-based systems, communications, sensors, as well as hardware and application software development technologies.

In particular, it owns fundamental technologies in the domestic Hi-Pass lane control system field, aligned with the South Korean government's C-ITS development policy promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Expressway Corporation. It was the first to develop and establish multi-lane Hi-Pass systems, standard certifications, and toll openings.

Currently, Aitronics operates Hi-Pass lane systems in 162 out of 437 expressway service areas nationwide, holding a 37.1% market share. In July, it secured a project worth 15.8 billion KRW to build next-generation Hi-Pass systems. Last year, its sales and operating profit were 21 billion KRW and 2.4 billion KRW, respectively.

IL Science plans to utilize core infrastructure technologies such as the intelligent transport system possessed by Aitronics together with its own technologies, including the electric vehicle headlamp multi-beam system using silicon lenses currently under testing and the soon-to-be-launched patented EV charging streetlight system. It expects significant synergy effects in the process of establishing a foundation for entering the future car market. Furthermore, it anticipates playing a leading role in the B2G sector (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Expressway Corporation, etc.) beyond the existing B2B and B2C fields.

Song Seong-geun, CEO of IL Science, said, “Through this acquisition of Aitronics, we have secured core technologies in the future car infrastructure field. With the ITS market expected to grow to about 13 trillion KRW and the EV charging station market to about 60 trillion KRW by 2025, we will leverage the newly acquired core technologies and our expertise to grow into a key company in the future car market.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.