South Korean outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) companies are seeing the operation rate in their factories drop steeply from the recent downturn of the global chip market.The downturn has caused customer orders to plummet and these companies have operation rates below 50%, sources sai

Chip component maker KNJ has become a director vendor of silicon carbide (SiC) focus ring to chipmaker SK Hynix, TheElec has learned.Prior to being selected as a direct vendor, KNJ was below in the value chain and supplied unfinished SiC rings to SiC ring suppliers of the chipmaker.SiC rings are use

South Korean AI startup FuriosaAI is planning to launch an AI chip that will support ChatGPT next year, its CEO told TheElecFuriosaAI CEO June Paik claimed that this second-generation AI chip of the company will be the most powerful chip available for the operation of ChatGPT.The particular chip boa

The CEO of production equipment maker SFA said on Tuesday that the acquisition of CMOS image sensor maker CIS will allow it to offer turn-key deals in the battery sector.SFA CEO Kim Young-min said during its earnings call for 2022 that the company is planning to maximize its synergy with CIS going f

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) company Park Systems is aiming to increase its revenue by 30% this year.Park Systems director Cho Sang-joon told TheElec that the company expects the goal will be met despite the downturn of the chip market.Last year the company recorded 122.1 billion won in revenue and

Dongjin Semichem is developing two new EUV photoresists, one inorganic and another dry.The company was developing the inorganic EUV PR and dry EUV PR with a major customer, sources said.Last year, the company already launched an organic EUV PR.The new ones are being developed for application in more

Chip production equipment maker Nextin is aiming to double its share in the global market for dark field inspection equipment.Nextin CEO Park Tae-hoon told TheElec on Wednesday that it was aiming to increase its share to 10% this year from last year’s 5%.This is despite the current downturn of the g

Chip and display panel component maker TSI was close to commercializing probe cards for DRAM chips, TheElec has learned.It was conducting quality tests with two main customers for the cards that will be finished within the first quarter, sources said.It had already completed a quality test with anot

The market for chillers used in semiconductor production is expected to change racially in the next two to three years.This is because the world’s largest coolant producer 3M has announced that it will end production by 2025 from environmental regulations.Chillers are used to absorb heat inside cham

Contract chip manufacturer DB Hitek said on Tuesday that it has secured global shutter and single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) technologies for the production of high-end image sensors.The South Korean foundry said it will expand into industrial machine vision, autonomous driving, augmented reality

SK Hynix has reshuffled its CMOS image sensor (CIS) team in a bid to shift focus from expanding market share to developing high-end products, TheElec has learned.Its CIS team was a singular organization prior to the changes, but the company has now created sub-teams that focus on specific functions

SK Hynix said on Wednesday that it has launched a new mobile LPDDR5 DRAM with a speed of 9.6Gbps.Called LPDDR5T, or LPDDR5 Turbo, it is 13% faster than its predecessor LPDDR5X launched two months ago. LPDDR5X had a speed of 8.5Gbps.The South Korean chip giant said it aims to continue serving custome

SK Hynix has created a new high-level position for its maintenance department.The chipmaker said on Monday that the area will now have a position called Master, the highest career level for those in the field.Masters, the top position for equipment maintenance in wafer fabrication, will aim to leave

Samsung Foundry, the contract chip-producing business unit of Samsung, has built a system that allows its key partners to have sales and maintenance rights of the chip giant’s IPs.The company has previously done this on its own but it seems it is now making a middleman distribution system for its IP

South Korean chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix are planning to procure fewer silicon wafers used in chip production than they initially planned going forward, TheElec has learned.The chipmakers discussed the issue with their respective wafer suppliers sometime during the fourth quarter, sources said.S

Samsung is planning to build pilot lines by the end of the year for its planned new fabs in South Korea and the US, TheElec has learned.The pilot lines will be built at P4 in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, and another one in Taylor, Texas. Samsung recently shared these plans with its suppliers for the fab

Samsung is expecting its annual operating profit from semiconductor sales in 2023 to be around 13.1 trillion won, TheElec has learned.This figure was shared with its employees in a note sent to employees on Wednesday explaining their expected bonus payment amounts to be paid in January from their pe

The cost of the new fab Samsung is building in South Korea has increased significantly since the third quarter due to global inflation, TheElec has learned.The cost of building additional facilities and its P3 fab at Pyeongtaek has increased by over 1 trillion won.Samsung C&T, Samsung Engineering, a

Investment in fabless chip companies that design semiconductors continue to drop in South Korea.TheElec talked to multiple sources in the country’s fabless scene __ all voiced their concern that spending in the sector by funds is drying up.A CEO of a local fabless chip firm said that the investment

Telecommunication equipment maker RFHIC is taking part in a consortium between South Korea and the United Kingdom to research 5G Open RAN technologies.Open RAN seeks to use an open standard for the interface and software used in wireless base stations.Previously, software and hardware used in base s