Samsung is expanding the use of automation in its sub-fabs that supply gases and chemicals to fabs, TheElec has learned.The South Korean tech giant is automating the drum logistics systems and installing more automatic clean quick couplers in its sub-fabs, sources said.This was being done to increas

Silicon wafer maker SK Siltron is expected to have posted 2.4 trillion won in revenue last year, TheElec has learned.This will be 20% higher than its 2021 figure and was despite the downturn in the global chip market.High demand for chips during the past five years has spurred SK Siltron’s growth.In

Hana Micron is expected to see its sales to SK Hynix more than double this year as its production capacity ramps up from the operation of its new factory in Vietnam.The new factory started operations late last year and offers chip packaging and testing services for chipmakers.SK Hynix accounts for s

SemiFive has secured Doosan Group as an investor in its Series C funding round, TheElec has learned.The system chip design house had aimed to secure 60 billion won in funding during the round but expected secure a total of 70 billion won from investors including Doosan Group.LB Investment and SV Inv

SK Hynix was in talks with equipment maker YEST to procure high-pressure hydrogen annealing equipment, TheElec has learned.The pair were in the alpha test phase of their collaboration, sources said. If the equipment passes it will enter the beta test phase, the final stages before supply, they said.

SK Enpulse, the chip material subsidiary of SK Hynix affiliate SKC, succeeded in developing a blank mask last year and has given samples to potential customers, TheElec has learned.S&S Tech has been the sole vendor of blank masks within South Korea. SK Enpluse has aimed to develop a high-end blank m

It seems Japan’s trade restriction against South Korea for certain key materials used in advanced tech production that lasted four years is about to end.The South Korean government has agreed to pay compensation to its own citizens who were forced to work in Japanese factories during World Word Two.

South Korean outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) companies are seeing the operation rate in their factories drop steeply from the recent downturn of the global chip market.The downturn has caused customer orders to plummet and these companies have operation rates below 50%, sources sai

Registering clock driver chip developer One Semiconductor will begin production of RCD for server DDR5 DRAM during the second half of the year.Company CEO Kim Chang-hyun told TheElec that One Semiconductor was already manufacturing DDR4 RCD as of last year after passing all required quality tests.It

South Korea is the largest producer of memory chips. Samsung and SK Hynix combined has a 70% market share in the DRAM market and around 50% in NAND flash.However, they don’t dominate all technologies related to memory chips. For instance, for controllers used in NAND, the pair rely heavily on compan

Chip component maker KNJ has become a director vendor of silicon carbide (SiC) focus ring to chipmaker SK Hynix, TheElec has learned.Prior to being selected as a direct vendor, KNJ was below in the value chain and supplied unfinished SiC rings to SiC ring suppliers of the chipmaker.SiC rings are use

SK Hynix faced problems this month during DRAM production due to the high-k material having a quality issue, TheElec has learned.The zirconium (Zr) high-k material that was supplied by SK Trichem had impurities in them, sources said.This caused some of SK Hynix’s production equipment at its DRAM fab

Meta will be collaborating with South Korean component makers SK Hynix and LG Display to develop MicroOLED, TheElec has learned.LG Display, along with Samsung Display, is a leading OLED display panel maker.It has recently signed a collaboration agreement with South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix f

Chip and display panel component maker TSI was close to commercializing probe cards for DRAM chips, TheElec has learned.It was conducting quality tests with two main customers for the cards that will be finished within the first quarter, sources said.It had already completed a quality test with anot

Dry vacuum pump firm Lot Vacuum is conducting quality tests for its equipment with two global chip companies, TheElec has learned.One is an overseas foundry company and another is a memory chipmaker.These quality tests started last year and Lot Vacuum is expected to win the companies and customers t

Samsung won’t spend fewer wafers or halt production lines in its chip production despite the recent downturn of the global memory chip market, the company said on Tuesday.The company’s chip business reported an operating income of 270 billion won for the fourth quarter of 2022, its lowest in ten yea

The market for chillers used in semiconductor production is expected to change racially in the next two to three years.This is because the world’s largest coolant producer 3M has announced that it will end production by 2025 from environmental regulations.Chillers are used to absorb heat inside cham

South Korean chip foundries are continuing to record lower operation rates in their production facilities, a trend that is expected to continue up to at least the second quarter.South Korea is home to foundries, or contract chip makers, such as Samsung, DB Hitek, Key Foundry, Magnachip, and SK Hynix

SK Hynix has reshuffled its CMOS image sensor (CIS) team in a bid to shift focus from expanding market share to developing high-end products, TheElec has learned.Its CIS team was a singular organization prior to the changes, but the company has now created sub-teams that focus on specific functions

SK Hynix said on Wednesday that it has launched a new mobile LPDDR5 DRAM with a speed of 9.6Gbps.Called LPDDR5T, or LPDDR5 Turbo, it is 13% faster than its predecessor LPDDR5X launched two months ago. LPDDR5X had a speed of 8.5Gbps.The South Korean chip giant said it aims to continue serving custome