Semiconductor inspection component maker TSE has succeeded in developing a key component of probe cards used to inspect high-end computing chips.The company said on Monday that it has developed a space transformer organic-multi-layer (STO-ML) with 50-micrometer circuit width that can applied to vert

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has been taking part in regular executive meetings of subsidiary SK Hynix, TheElec has learned.Chey has been participating in the regular meetings, hosted by SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung, every other week since the start of the year, sources said.During the meetings, the

SK Hynix is considering increasing the production output of some specific DRAM chips within the first quarter, the company said.This was because there were signs of market conditions improving, SK Hynix Kwak Noh-jung said at a press conference in Las Vegas on the sidelines of CES 2024.For NAND, whil

Samsung has ordered dozens of thermal compression (TC) bonders from its subsidiary Semes, TheElec has learned.As TC bonders are used to stack DRAMs and a must to manufacture high bandwidth memory (HBM) and DDR5, the order indicates that Samsung will likely focus on advanced DRAM production this year

Samsung has ordered a significant number of 2.5D bonding equipment from Japanese company Shinkawa, TheElec has learned.The South Korean tech giant ordered 16 units of the equipment from the packaging firm, sources said. Samsung already received 7 units and is likely to request the remaining when it

The shortage in photomasks is continuing despite the global economic downturn due to high demand for the commodity from Chinese chip fabless and foundry companies.Photomask makers, Toppan, Photronics, and Dai Nippon Printing, are all maintaining factory operation rates of 100%, sources said.Some Chi

Nextin supplied its Gen 3 wafer inspection equipment during the third quarter, TheElec has learned.The fab equipment maker’s Aegis-3 is its latest equipment that has inspection speed increased by 30% compared to Aegis-2.The deal is worth 7 billion won __ a single unit of the equipment costs US$6 mil

SK Hynix is expected to start using thick krypton fluoride (KrF) photoresist (PR) developed by its own affiliate in the production of 3D NAND, TheElec has learned.SK Materials Performance, previously the electronics material business unit of Kumho Petrochemical that SK Group acquired for 40 billion

Samsung’s chip business was testing a new key chemical developed by a domestic supplier.The tech giant was conducting a quality test of propylene glycol methyl ether acetate (PGMEA) provided by Chemtronics, sources said.The move is significant as Samsung relied on PGMEA supplies from US and Japanese

Power chip maker Onsemi’s fab in South Korea suffered a power outage on Sunday, TheElec learned on Thursday.The fab based at Bucheon was out of power for around 20 minutes starting at 9:30 pm local time on Sunday.The company’s fab was a victim of a wide outage that affected some areas of the cities

Fadu, a South Korean fabless semiconductor company that some have called a ‘unicorn,’ has reported poor earnings for the second and third quarters this year.The combined revenue from the two quarters was only 380 million won, or around US$280,000.This is a shocking turn as its revenue last year when

South Korean fab equipment maker Baco Solution won its first order from a customer based overseas for its physical vapor deposition (PVD) equipment, TheElec has learned.The company won an order from a power management IC maker and had competed with fab equipment maker Applied Materials during the bi

Merck Performance Materials has appealed in its patent lawsuit against Tri Chemical Laboratories (TCLC) over hafnium (Hf) precursor in South Korea.The South Korean patent court validated TCLC’s patents in its first ruling but Merck has appealed, TheElec confirmed on Tuesday.While still in appeal, th

Contract prices of DRAM have increased for the first time in two years and three months.According to TrendForce, as of October 31, general-purpose DDR4 8Gb 16x8 2133MHz was priced at US$1.5, a 15.38% increase from the previous month.Other DRAM prices also showed a 10% increase over the same time per

Wonik Holding’s scrubber for semiconductor production was going through Samsung’s quality test, TheElec has learned.The company’s equipment was also going through a quality test by a South Korean 8-inch chip foundry, sources also said.Wonik Holdings wants to focus on high-end scrubbers such as those

Chip design firm SemiFive is aiming to win 100 billion won worth of orders this year that will allow it to turn a profit for the first time, its CEO told TheElec.The goal is double that of the orders it won last year and if they convert to revenue the company will turn to the black, SemiFive CEO Bra

The Israel-Hasmas war has increased concerns in the South Korean semiconductor industry for the procurement of hydrogen bromide used in chip production.This is because the domestic market is 99.6% reliant on imports of bromine (Br) from Israel, according to data from the Korea International Trade As

DRAMs launching in the future may be made with hybrid bonding applied, a TechInsights analyst said on Thursday.This is because it will allow chipmakers to increase the density of the DRAM to increase their capacity, analyst Jeongdong Choe said during a seminar hosted by SEMI in Suwon, south of Seoul

Samsung will use its own chip from its Exynos brand of application processors in its upcoming Galaxy S24 Series, TheElec has learned.The South Korean tech giant only used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips for its Galaxy S23 Series unveiled earlier this year due to yield issues in Exynos.Samsung will use b

Intel will begin mass production of 1.8-nanometer (nm) chips, called 18A by the company, in 2025, CEO Pat Gelsinger said on Tuesday at Innovation 2023 in San Jose.18A is at the tail end of the five nodes that Gelsinger unveiled in 2021 in which he said the company will develop.The CEO said the compa