Korea Circuit is expected to wrap up the expansion of its flip chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) factory next month, TheElec has learned.
FC-BGA is a board used for server and PC chips that offers less electric signal loss and more I/O compared to previous wire packaging.
Korea Circuit is planning to manufacture low- to mid-end FC-BGA at the factory.
These have less layers and wider circuit width compared to high-end FC-BGA and are generally easier to manufacturer.
High-end FC-BGA are made by companies such as Ibiden and Shinko Denki of Japan for CPU, server and network produces of Intel and AMD.
Last year in July, Korea Circuit said it has signed a six-year contract with an unnamed customer to supply FC-BGA.
At the time, the company said it expected 72 billion won of added sales per year from the deal.
People familiar with the matter said the customer is likely Broadcom of the US.
Korea Circuit has already begun supplying its FC-BGA from lines in the factory that has been already completed.
The company is hoping that in three years time, sales for FC-BGA will overtake that those from its high density interconnectors used in smartphones.
Boards for smartphones accounted for up to 50% of its sales last year. Those for chips accounted for up to 40%.
Korea Circuit and compatriot DAP won large orders for boards from Samsung Electronics in 2019 when Samsung Electro-Mechanics begin exiting the business.
However, Samsung sold less Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S21 smartphones than expected, negatively effecting Korea Circuit.
Korea Circuit recorded 296.7 billion won in sales in the first quarter. It posted operating income of 7.7 billion won.
