IA Group Acquires 'SW Powerhouse' Infraware... Advancing Autonomous Driving Business

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] IA Group, which is making strides to become a ‘core future car parts company,’ is diversifying its business into the software sector by acquiring InfraWare, an embedded software specialist.

On the 16th, IA subsidiary IA Networks and Sewon announced that they acquired 4,827,344 shares (12.88%) of InfraWare held by Selvas AI, the largest shareholder of InfraWare. The total purchase price amounted to 12 billion KRW. IA Networks acquired 2,454,053 shares (6.55%), becoming the largest shareholder of InfraWare, while Sewon acquired 2,373,291 shares (6.33%), becoming the second-largest shareholder. This effectively means InfraWare has joined the IA Group affiliates.

IA Group plans to diversify its business into InfraWare’s core system software sector while focusing on developing key automotive software necessary for autonomous driving, aiming to strengthen its core competitiveness in the future automotive business.

They also plan to collaborate on vehicle AI (artificial intelligence) technologies related to autonomous vehicles with Selvas AI, an affiliate of InfraWare. InfraWare is also the second-largest shareholder of Selvas AI and Selvas Healthcare, which were the previous largest shareholders. Selvas AI is an AI specialist company possessing voice recognition and image recognition technologies applicable in in-vehicle driving environments.

An IA Group official stated, “The core of the next-generation automotive market, including autonomous vehicles, lies in software technology that enables data processing, sensors, and cognitive judgment,” adding, “To strengthen automotive software competitiveness, securing highly complementary software technologies such as AI-based data utilization was essential, which led to the decision to acquire management rights of InfraWare.”

He continued, “InfraWare is a company with the best software technology in Korea,” and said, “Combining InfraWare’s software capabilities with IA Group affiliates’ strengths in hardware-based technology will create significant synergy in the future automotive business.”

Meanwhile, InfraWare plans to appoint key IA Group executives, including Kim Dongjin, CEO and Chairman of IA and Sewon as well as Chairman of IA Networks, as new inside director candidates at the shareholders’ meeting scheduled for the 27th. They also intend to add business objectives related to autonomous driving software and parts development, AI-related businesses, and parts development for electric and hydrogen vehicle mobility.

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