[People Site] Cho Deok-ho, Head of R&D at Sigetronics:“A Rising Force in Physical AI Sensors”
“At the heart of physical artificial intelligence (AI), which directly perceives and responds to the real physical world, are semiconductor sensors that replace the five human senses to detect the environment. By strengthening our semiconductor sensor business, we aim to emerge as a strong player in physical AI fields such as humanoid robots and autonomous vehicles.”Cho Deok-ho, Head of R&D at Sigetronics, stated on the 17th, “We are actively commercializing optical sensors as well as compound semiconductor-based power and high-frequency devices using gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium nitride (GaN) for physical AI perception. In particular, leveraging our internally established M-FAB production infrastructure, we are growing across optical sensors, electrostatic discharge (ESD), power semiconductors, and GaN RF fields.”Sigetronics is also expanding its product lineup, including broadband photodiodes (BB-PD) for smartwatches, avalanche photodiodes (APD) for autonomous vehicles, phototransistors (PTR) for automatic control, and infrared emitters (IRED). Recently, the company successfully commercialized flip-chip photodiodes (FC-PD) for wearable devices, securing a new future growth engine.“Sensors are manufactured using various materials such as metals, ceramics, and organic substances, and there are dozens of types including pressure, temperature, humidity, light, image, and gas sensors,” Cho explained. “In the past, this was a ‘small-volume, high-mix’ industry, but with the convergence of semiconductor technologies, we have now entered an era of ‘high-volume, high-mix’ production.”He added, “Semiconductor sensors are evolving toward higher performance, smaller size, and lower power consumption, moving beyond single functions to multifunctionality and integration. Applications are rapidly expanding from traditional automation to smart devices such as smartphones and wearables, and further into intelligent domains including autonomous vehicles, robots, and bio-healthcare.”Cho also emphasized the importance of related technologies. “Physical AI fundamentally relies on semiconductor technologies such as sensors, chips, and actuators. More than 90% of all sensors, including optical sensors, are manufactured using semiconductor-based micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology,” he said. “The co-development of AI chips and sensor semiconductors is the key driving force of the physical AI industry and a central pillar of national competitiveness.”He continued, “Korea possesses world-class foundations in semiconductor manufacturing technology, materials, and process infrastructure, giving it strong potential to take a leading position in the physical AI era. The age of physical AI has already begun, and semiconductor technology will stand at its core, driving a big-bang–level new industrial revolution.”Major physical AI application areas for Sigetronics include wearable healthcare (blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, blood glucose), autonomous driving, precision robot control, proximity sensing, and image security and inspection. In April, the company became the first in Korea to successfully mass-produce power semiconductors for high-speed, high-power switching (MCT). It has expanded its technology from silicon-based power devices to GaN-based compound semiconductors and has established its own foundry line based on epitaxial process technology.“Looking ahead, as advanced industries such as physical AI, quantum computing, autonomous driving, robotics, and aerospace develop rapidly, demand for compound semiconductors will grow explosively,” Cho said. “We are expanding our value chain through joint development with global customers, and next year we aim to achieve sales of KRW 10 billion (approximately USD 75 million) in the semiconductor sensor segment—ten times this year’s level.”<Cho Deok-ho, Head of R&D, Sigetronics>ETNews, hskim@etnews.com, December 18, 2025
