DS Hi-Metal may face difficulty in procuring raw material due to the military coup at Myanmar.
The company is the world’s second largest solder ball maker. It set up its subsidiary DS Myanmar at Yangon on June 2019 through a 100% direct investment to procure tins used to make solder balls.
A DS Hi-Metal spokesperson said the company was watching the situation at Myanmar closely. However, the coup is yet to affect business activities, they stressed.
DS Hi-Metal was planning to begin manufacturing solder ball from tins procured by DS Myanmar mid-2021. However, if the chaos caused by the coup continues in Myanmar, this plan may be delayed.
According to Japanese media Asahi, Japanese companies have faced problems in Myanmar due to the coup. Suzuki has halted its factory there, while KDDI employees have been ordered to stay home.
Solder ball are placed between a semiconductor die and package substrate to send electrical signal back and forth. It is made out of 95% tin. DS Hi-Metal is using a trading firm based in Ulsan, South Korea to import around 20 metric tonnes of tin a month from Indonesia to manufacture its solder balls. It also procures some time alloy from Alpha Metal in the US.
If the plan for DS Myanmar to procure tin is delayed, the company will need to extend its existing deal with vendors.
DS Hi-Metal began manufacturing solder ball in 1999. It supplies them to Samsung Electronics and other semiconductor and packaging firms. It is a runner-up in market share to Japan’s Senju Metal.
