Unitest close to finishing new fab equipment factory

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 goes online. This will allow the company meet the current high demand for fab equipment.

Unitest began construction of the factory in July last year, earmarking 15.1 billion won in the project. The factory was originally set to be completed in June but this was delayed to October due to design changes to it. 

The new factory is double the size of Unitest’s factory at Yongin, near its headquarters. The new factory will also house office space and research labs.

Unitest specializes in back-end testing equipment. Its main products are memory burn-in tester, SSD tester and memory module tester. The company is also developing perovskite solar cells. Last year, fab equipment accounted for 70% its sales while solar cells accounted for 30%.

Unitest’s biggest customer is SK Hynix. It also supplies its kits Micron, Nanya and Chinese customers. 

Fab equipment are in high demand due to the current global chip shortage. Earlier this year, SK Hynix has said it was planning to execute some its spending plans earlier to procure equipment faster.

Memory standard is also shifting from DDR4 to DDR5, starting this year, which means semiconductor companies will need to update their fab equipment.

Unitest is is expecting more orders for its testers, including those for LPDDR5 burn-in testing, starting in the second half of the year. It is also planning to begin production of NAND equipment to supply to Micron. The company is also developing fab equipment for system semiconductors.