The regional manager and key executives at KLA’s business unit in South Korea are expected to quit soon, TheElec has learned.KLA-Tencor Korea president Bruce Chung and up to five others have quit or is planning to quit the company soon, people familiar with the matter said.KLA’s US headquarters is e

Lam Research has sent a letter to South Korean fab equipment maker PSK through a local law firm, claiming they infringed its patents.The US fab equipment giant set the latter via Kim & Chang, claiming that its South Korean counterpart infringed on its patents related to bevel etcher.The move can lea

RAM Tech’s plan to build a new hydrogen fluoride plant at Dangjin, South Korea has been denied by the local government.Dangjin’s city hall said on Monday that it has rejected the plan.Local residents have voiced their opposition to the plan.A RAM Tech spokesperson said the company plans to launch a

Samsung Electronics has ended its semiconductor distribution rights contract with Mujin Electronics as of the end of June, TheElec has learned.The South Korean tech giant will be handing over the rights to electronic component distributor SAMT instead. This process will be done in September.SAMT wil

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is planning to wrap up its review of Chinese private equity firm Wise Road Capital’s acquisition of South Korean chipmaker Magnachip by September 13.CFIUS has previously rejected acquisition and merger plans of Chinese companies such a

Equipment maker SFA is looking to acquire Mujin Electronics’ wafer cleaning equipment business, TheElec has learned.SFA is attempting to widen its fab equipment portfolio from the back-end to the front-end.The acquisition will also allow the company to reduce reliance on its display and battery prod

Memory prices increased in July compared to the previous month, according to DRAMeXchange.Fixed PC DRAM (DDR4 8Gb) price was US$4.1 in July, a 7.89% increase from June.Memory prices usually increase the most at the start of the quarter thanks to new contract negotiations.In April, the fixed price of

Enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) contract prices are expected to increase 15% in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, according to market research firm TrendForce.Demand for SSDs are expected to increase from global data center companies expanding their servers.SSDs are more and more

DNF said on Wednesday that it will receive 20.9 billion won in equity investment from Samsung Electronics to expand its production capacity and increase R&D spending.A DNF spokesperson said the company plans to start building a new factory near its headquarters in Daejeon late this year or early nex

SK Hynix has performed strongly during the second quarter thanks to high demand for semiconductors.The company’s sales and operating income for the quarter was its highest since 2018.SK Hynix said on Tuesday that it posted 10.32 trillion won in sales, 2.69 trillion won in operating income and 1.98 t

Fab equipment maker ASML plans to manufacture 60 units of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) systems in 2023, the chief of the Netherlands-based firm said.During the conference call for the second quarter, ASML CEO Peter Wennink said the company plans to manufacture around 40 units this year.This will be exp

Mecaro has sold its shares in its subsidiary KOFI R&D at a cheaper rate than their face value, TheElec has learned.The move is a big setback for the company as it was in the midst of diversifying its portfolio in light of recent poor earnings.Mecaro had bought a 58.07% stake (a million shares) of KO

Samsung will start applying pellicles in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process used in advanced chip production starting in 2023, TheElec has learned.Pellicles, which are used to protect masks from dusts, will be used in mass production starting in late 2023, people familiar with Samsung’s internal

Cirrus Logic’s deal to buy Lion Semiconductor for US$335 million is talk of the town in South Korea’s semiconductor industry.Last week, Cirrus Logic announced that it was acquiring the California-based startup that specializes in power management ICs for wired and wireless charging as well as DC-DC

SK Hynix has begun the production of 10-nanometer (1a) 8Gb LPDDR4 mobile DRAM this month, the company said on Monday.It was also applying the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process for the memory, SK Hynix aid.It is the first time that SK Hynix has applied EUV in its DRAM production. The new chip will be

Samsung secured half of the global smartphone memory revenue in the first quarter this year, according to Strategy Analytics.The South Korean held a 49% market share in the space.This was followed by SK Hynix’ 23% market share and Micron’s 14%.Smartphone memory revenue for the quarter totaled US$11.

Unitest, a South Korean fab equipment vendor which supplies kits to SK Hynix, is close to completing its new factory at Pyeongtaek.The factory will start operation within the year at the earliest, people familiar with the matter told TheElec.Unitest’s production capacity will triple once the factory

SK Hynix is preparing to end its business relationship with its design house partner ADTechnology, TheElec has learned.The South Korean memory giant had used the design house to have TSMC make its NAND flash controllers.But as ADTechnology recently ended its value chain aggregator (VCA) contract wit

SK Hynix’s acquisition of Intel’s NAND business unit has received the approval from UK’s antitrust watchdog.The Competition and Markets Authority gave its unconditional approval of the deal on Monday.In October last year, the South Korean memory giant announced that it would be acquiring Intel’s NAN

SK Hynix’s acquisition of Intel’s NAND unit has secured the approval from authorities in Brazil.Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense said it found that the deal didn’t hurt fair market competition.In October last year, SK Hynix announced that it was acquiring Intel’s NAND and SSD bus