KCTech’s supercritical fluid cleaner was being evaluated by SK Hynix for use in its DRAM production line, TheElec has learned.SK Hynix has been procuring this equipment from Tokyo Electron, so if KCTech passes the evaluation it will become a secondary supplier, sources said.KCTech is expected to pas

LG Energy Solution is planning to build its most advanced battery production line yet at its Ochang factory, TheElec has learned.It is its seventh pilot line at the factory and will be completed in October.The line will use smart factory technologies and manufacture pouch batteries, sources said.Tho

Samsung is applying molybdenum in the metalization process of its Gen 9 V-NAND, TheElec has learned.The company has brought in five units of Mo deposition machines from Lam Research for the process, sources said.The South Korean tech giant is planning to bring in twenty additional units next year, t

Hyundai Motor is planning to use press notching instead of laser in its latest joint battery factory with LG Energy Solution in the US, TheElec has learned.The factory, operated by the pair’s joint venture HL-GA, will use notching, much like HLI Green Power, Hyundai Motor’s joint venture with LG Ene

Micron said its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production capacity has been sold out up to 2025.Previously, SK Hynix also said it sold out its HBM production capacity up to next year.Micron said it recorded US$6.811 billion in revenue in its latest fiscal quarter running from March to May, an increase

Hanmi Semiconductor has effectively lost in a patent lawsuit it filed against rival Genesem over patents related to packaging equipment.In fact, it lost more than it bargained for as the court nullified its patents.Hanmi Semiconductor filed the suit against Genesem to the Seoul Central District Cour

Back-end equipment maker ASMPT has supplied a demo thermal compression (TC) bonder for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production to Micron, TheElec has learned.The equipment maker is collaborating with the US memory giant in co-developing a TC bonder for use in HBM4 production.ASMPT has also supplied T

South Korea’s export of blank masks used in chip production has jumped 46% in May from a year ago, according to government data.Exports hit US$2.56 million in May, with China accounting for US$1.93 million and accounting for 75.3% of the total, according to data from the Korea Trade Statistics Promo

This week, multiple acquaintances messaged me to ask whether a certain report was true.The report, made in South Korean media, claimed that Nvidia asked Samsung to change the design of their high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and that this would cause further delays in supply. Coincidentally, Samsung’s sha

DB Hitek is expected to manufacture a chip that will go into Tesla cars, TheElec has learned.The automotive chip is being designed by a US fabless chip company, which will conduct audits of DB Hitek in June and October.The June audit will be conducted by the fabless alone, while in October Tesla wil

South Korean memory chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix are expected to spply hybrid bonding in their upcoming 3D DRAM.SK Hynix said during the International Memory Workshop 2024 conference held in Seoul last week that it will apply wafer bonding in its 3D DRAM production.Wafer bonding is also called hy

South Korean AI chip companies Sapeon and Rebellions seeking a merger to become more competitive as competition heats up among AI chip companies amid the boom.The pair said on Wednesday that the merged entity will be inaugurated within the year after they sign the merger deal within the third quarte

The commercialization of glass substrates will threaten the dominance of advanced packaging technology currently in use such as chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) of TSMC, according a university professor.Glass substrates’ target market was clear and they will be used in AI and server semiconductors

SK Materials Airplus said on Monday that it will spend 700 billion won to build plants to produce gaseous nitrogen (GN2) and clean dry air (CDA).The two gases are used in chip production. GN2 is used a carrier gas to transport precursors on the wafers during deposition. It is also used to prevent ox

Samsung shared in a recent paper that it believes hybrid bonding was needed to manufacture a 16-stack high-bandwidth memory (HBM).In its paper published during the 2024 IEEE 74th Electronic Components and Technology Conference held in Colorado last month titled, in Korean, D2W (die to wafer) Copper

TSMC’s design house partner Asicland has won AI chip startup DeepX as its customer, TheElec has learned.DeepX had previously used Samsung Foundry’s design house Gaonchips as its production partner.But the startup recently signed a deal with Asicland to use TSMC’s 12-nanometer (nm) node to manufactur

The global semiconductor market is expected to grow 16% on-year this year, according to analyst firm World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS).The market will grow to be worth US$611.2 billion this year, WSTS noted. Its growth projection also increased from the 13.1% it gave late last year.Demand

Nvidia has unveiled its next-generation AI platform dubbed Rubin, a successor to Blackwell that will launch in 2026.The company will also launch a new CPU platform dubbed Vera the same year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a keynote address at National Taiwan University.Huang didn’t share the specs

Hanwha Precision Machinery has won a deal with SK Hynix to supply thermal compression (TC) bonders used in the production of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), TheElec has learned.With ASMPT (which Dutch equipment maker ASM is the largest shareholder with a 25% share) also agreeing to develop TC bonder un

PSK Holdings had supplied reflow equipment to Micron back in March, TheElec has learned.The equipment is used in the production of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which are used with AI processors.The equipment were supplied to Taiwan and Micron is expected to order more if the initial units are receiv