Seoul Semiconductor has announced that it will auction its RF semiconductor patent portfolio and high-power LED package patent portfolio, and is looking for potential buyers or license partners for some of these technologies.
Seoul Semiconductor believes that this is a good opportunity for startups and small and medium-sized enterprises that have difficulty obtaining key patents to expand their business.
It is reported that in the first auction, Seoul Semiconductor will seek the highest bidder for 98 patent assets related to its power amplifier and gallium nitride RF semiconductors, including 55 US patents, three of which have been licensed to the US Air Force and the US Army. These RF patent portfolios come from the US-based SETi (Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc.) company acquired by Seoul Semiconductor's subsidiary Seoul Viosys in 2015. The latter invested more than $ 100 million in research and development for these patents. SETi is now focused on UV LED technology, so it is now preparing to auction its GaN RF patent portfolio.
GaN has a wider band gap than silicon, which means that it can withstand higher voltages than silicon and can pass current through the device faster. GaN is becoming the technology of choice for mobile and satellite communications, radar, wireless charging and autonomous driving.
With the advent of 5G technology, the GaN RF market is rapidly developing. By 2024, the GaN RF market will grow to $ 2 billion (Yole Développement, 2019), and the global RF component market size is expected to reach $ 45 billion by 2025 (Market Research Report, 2019). Sumitomo Chemical, Cree, and Qorvo currently hold the lion's share of the GaN RF market.
In the second auction, Seoul Semiconductor will auction more than 100 US, European, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean patents related to high-power LED packaging and adaptive lighting. High-power LED packages are widely used in smartphones and automotive applications, and adaptive lighting is used in smartphone camera lenses, flashlights, and automotive headlights. These patents are some basic patents of high-power LED chips. The high-power LED chip can realize the thin and light design of the lens and flash, thereby meeting the market's various functional requirements for smartphone cameras.
Chung Hoon Lee, founder of Seoul Semiconductor, and Chae Hon Kim, CEO of SETi, said that some large companies have illegally obtained our trade secrets by digging employees or adopting low-cost products that ignore intellectual property rights, which have negatively affected the LED industry. . Therefore, we will sell some patents to companies that do not compete directly, and invest the profits from the auction into the development of new technologies in the future.
In recent years, Seoul Semiconductor has initiated several patent lawsuits around the world. Among them, the patent infringement lawsuit filed recently against LED company Everlight in Germany has won, Everlight is seeking an appeal; in the US court of Texas, it filed a "sale of Philips TV that infringes the company's patent" against the US channel dealer "Fry's Electronics" "And won the lawsuit; in Germany, a large European electronics distribution company" Conrad Electronics "filed a patent infringement lawsuit for mobile phone backlights, and no progress has been made.