Some of the major Chinese chipmakers are actively buying US-made fab equipment in bulk due to rising tension between the world’s two largest economies, TheElec has learned.The US Department of Commerce has been running what it calls an Entity List since 2018 that prohibits listed Chinese companies f

SK Hynix said on Wednesday that it has developed a 238-layer NAND flash chip.The sample of the chip will be provided to its customer while mass production is expected to start next year.It has six more layers than the chip unveiled by Micron late last month.SK Hynix’s 238-layer NAND flash comes in 5

South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix said on Tuesday that it has completed the acquisition of Key Foundry.It has named SK Hynix System IC CEO Lee Dong-jae as the new CEO of Key Foundry.Previous Key Foundry CEO Lee Tae-jong will be leaving the company.SK Hynix had signed a deal to buy the entire st

Outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) firm LB Semicon is planning to build a new chip test line next year.The company will spend between 150 billion won to 160 billion won on equipment and will start building the line at its Anseong facility in January next year, people familiar with the

Samsung on Thursday said it recorded 77.2 trillion won in revenue and 14.1 trillion won in operating profit for the second quarter.This is an increase of 21% and 12%, respectively, from a year ago and its highest second-quarter revenue ever.Its Device Solutions Division, its semiconductor division,

SK Hynix hit record revenue and a high profit margin rate in the second quarter from the high demand for memory chips.The company said on Wednesday that it recorded 13.8 trillion won in revenue and 4.19 trillion won in operating profit during the quarter, an increase of 33.8% and 55.6% from a year a

Semiconductor component maker TSI will wrap up the expansion of its factories in South Korea and China within the year, TheElec has learned.This will allow it to mass produce more sockets and probe cards used in chip production.TSI has been expanding its facility at Cheonan, South Korea since last y

Ion implant equipment maker Axcelis Technologies is expected complete its first foreign factory in South Korea in the second half of the year, the company said.The new factory will allow it to respond quickly to customers such as Samsung, SK Hynix and ON Semiconductor as well as overall demand in As

Surplus Global said on Thursday that it has shipped its first 300mm test wafer from its cleanroom for foundry research.The company launched a new service earlier this year that offers a test bed to make wafers for customers.Surplus Global offers to make 300 thin film test wafers and analysis of elec

Scrubber and chiller maker Global Standard Technology (GST) is planning for a subsidiary to support its customer Samsung at Taylor, Texas, TheElec has learned.The South Korean tech giant is planning to build a new fab in the US city.GST is expected to secure lands for its subsidiary within the third

Samsung will begin applying modified semi additive process (MSAP) package technology in DRAM production starting with double data rate 6 (DDR6) and onward, a company executive said.Samsung test & system package (TSP) vice president Younggwan Ko said during a seminar in Suwon, South Korea, that packa

SK Hynix has named its global sales and marketing president Jongwon Noh to jointly hold the new position of chief synergy officer of Solidigm, TheElec has learned.Its task force, which was created during the process of the acquisition of Intel’s NAND business unit had also become a permanent team ca

SK Hynix is diversifying its supply chain for tetrahydrofuran (THF), a material used in the capacitor process in DRAM production, TheElec has learned.The South Korean chip giant had asked its key electronic material suppliers whether they want to become a supplier of the material, sources said.SK Tr

Samsung said on Thursday said it has started production of chips using its 3-nanometer (nm) process.The Korean tech giant’s 3nm process comes with its gate-all-around (GAA) transistor architecture.TheElec had earlier reported that Samsung was planning to start 3nm chip production for a Chinese chip

Samsung has added Wonik QnC as a supplier of cleaning and coating solution along with the original sole vendor Komico for its planned fab in Taylor, Texas, TheElec has learned.Wonik QnC was forming a local subsidiary in the US to meet Samsung’s demand, sources said.Semiconductors and display panels

Samsung will start trial production of its 3-nanometer(nm) foundry process for customers this week at the earliest, TheElec has learned.The first customer for the process will be the Chinese application-specific IC firm, sources said.Qualcomm, Samsung’s largest customer, had also made reservations f

Wafer dicing saw machine maker SR will focus on expanding its core business going forward, its CEO said.SR CEO Lee Jang-hee said the company was behind in technology and staff to industry leader Disco of Japan.Still, the South Korean company will focus on developing products, reacting to customers a

DI had acquired image processing inspection equipment firm Protech Corporation in March this year, TheElec has learned.The purchase follows the one it made in November when it bought machine vision battery inspection equipment maker Vtensystem for 6 billion won.Protech was founded in 2000 and develo

Samsung and SK Hynix are diversifying there supply chain for coolants used in semiconductor production following 3M’s shutdown of its related factory in Belgium.Coolants are used in the etching process during wafer fabrication. They are spread through chillers to control the temperature during the p

Outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) firm LB Semicon is planning to offer fan-out wafer-level package (FOWLP) service next year at the earliest, TheElec has learned.The company completed the development of relevant technologies earlier this year and has been testing them with an analog