SK Hynix has divided its procurement team for the first time, a move meant to strengthen the purchasing of components and equipment used in the back end of chip production.
The procurement team is now divided to a front end team and another back end team, SK Hynix had said its filings to local regulators last week.
Sources familiar with the matter said the move was done to strengthen to back end team as more advanced memory chips such as high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that use technologies such as through silicon via (TSV) to make require advanced packaging technologies.
Last year in June, SK Hynix began manufacturing HBM3 chips, supplying them to Nvidia, making them ahead of market leader Samsung ins this particular area.
The front end team will be led by SK Hynix vice president Kim Seong-han and the back end team Kim Neung-goo.
The front end team is divided again into smaller teams that handle fab support (purchasing of wafers, precursors, photoresists, gases, chemicals and targets), equipment purchase, component purchase and front end procurement strategy.
Similarly, the back end team is divided into smaller teams that handle package and test purchase (package and test equipment, device, board and controller), back end procurement strategy and infrastructure (IT, service, utility, construction, logistics).
The infrastructure team, which handles mostly purchases of things needed to construct a fab, is very active despite the downturn in the global chip market, the sources said.
A SK Hynix spokesperson said its recent restructuring was done to in light of the increased importance of its procurement organization from the rising importance of global supply chain management.
The predecessor of the two new Kims has also been nominated as the CEO of Essencore, a Hong King based subsidiary of SK SE Asia, SK Corporation’s Singapore-based investment subsidiary.
Essencore manufactures DRAM module, USB and MicroSD from chips supplied by SK Hynix.
A separate source said this recent nomination may be precedent for future procurement team members to head to posts in Essencore.
