Kia and Partners Jointly Develop New Parts Materials... "Supply Chain Stability Through Internalization"

Kia, together with its partners, has succeeded in jointly developing a new vehicle component material applying a world-first technology.

On the 2nd, Kia announced that it, along with partners Beomwoo Chemical and SNS, successfully developed a protective coating for printed circuit boards (PCB) using a world-first modified epoxy-based material. This development has led to the acquisition of two domestic patents and one overseas patent, and is evaluated as an improvement in the supply chain of core component materials.

As the proportion of electronic equipment components in automobiles has recently increased, Kia challenged itself to develop new materials with its partners to respond to the growing demand for PCBs and to solve supply and quality issues.

A PCB is a component that supports electronic equipment elements and connects them to allow electrical signals to flow. The PCB protective coating is an insulating coating that protects electronic components and printed circuit boards from damage caused by environmental factors such as temperature, corrosion, impact, and vibration.

With the rapid increase in demand for electronic control in automobiles, related components have become more important. However, securing material supply chains has become difficult due to strengthened global trade protection barriers. Kia explained that through this collaboration, it has achieved supply chain stabilization through component internalization and improved cost competitiveness.

The modified epoxy-based new material can reduce component costs by 32.4% compared to existing materials. Additionally, the curing time of the material at room temperature is halved, doubling productivity compared to before. In terms of facility investment, up to 1 billion KRW can be saved per production line.

A Kia official said, "Through mutual growth, we were able to achieve the result of developing a world-first material," and added, "We will continue to proactively respond to the changing mobility industry through mutual cooperation with our partners."

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