RAM Tech’s plan to build a new hydrogen fluoride plant at Dangjin, South Korea has been denied by the local government.Dangjin’s city hall said on Monday that it has rejected the plan.Local residents have voiced their opposition to the plan.A RAM Tech spokesperson said the company plans to launch a

Samsung Electronics has expanded its plan to apply pellicles during the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process used in wafer fabrication starting in 2023, TheElec has learned.The company intended to use pellicles for the wafer fabrication of certain high-value chips, but is now planning to apply it to al

Lithography equipment used in the back-end process of wafer fabrication will grow thanks to increased demand for CMOS image sensors (CIS) and power management ICs, according to Yole Development.As it becomes increasing difficult for chip makers to shorten the gate length in the front-end process, th

Semiconductor component firm MK Electronics said on Thursday that it will acquire Dongbu nTech, a subsidiary of Dongbu Corporation.MK Electron has agreed to buy 100% share of Dongbu nTech for 45.45 billion won on September 30.Dongbu nTech specializes in waste disposal, facility maintenance and manag

Samsung Electronics has ended its semiconductor distribution rights contract with Mujin Electronics as of the end of June, TheElec has learned.The South Korean tech giant will be handing over the rights to electronic component distributor SAMT instead. This process will be done in September.SAMT wil

Exicon said on Wednesday that it has completed the development of a new CMOS image sensor (CIS) test equipment, together with Samsung.The equipment are being evaluated by customers, a Exicon spokesperson said.The equipment will likely be commercialized in the fourth quarter, they said.Japan’s Advant

More semiconductor companies are gearing up to start operations in their new silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) power management IC fabs in the second half of the year.STMicroelectronics began SiC wafer production at its fab in Sweden last month. The company acquired the fab when it bou

Auros Technology has developed an 8-inch wafer overlay measurement equipment, a first for a South Korean company.The company has supplied the equipment, called Overlay System OL-100n, to Korea Advanced Nano Fab Center (KANC) back in June, people familiar with the matter said.It will be used in KANC’

SKC Solmics, the semiconductor component and material subsidiary of SKC, has begun the operation of its new chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) pad factory at Cheonan, South Korea, the company said on Tuesday.SKC Solmics spent 47 billion won for the new factory that started construction last year.Th

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is planning to wrap up its review of Chinese private equity firm Wise Road Capital’s acquisition of South Korean chipmaker Magnachip by September 13.CFIUS has previously rejected acquisition and merger plans of Chinese companies such a

Surplus Global, a South Korean pre-owned fab equipment seller, said on Tuesday that it has moved its headquarters and exhibition zone to its new building at Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.The new exhibition zone at Yongin is three times larger than its previous one at Osan.The new zone also has a clean r

The lead time for fab equipment has increased to on average 14 months as of July, according to those in South Korea fab equipment makers and data of global fab equipment makers collected by TheElec.This extension of the leading time is being caused by chipmakers increasing their spending on their fa

RFsemi said on Monday that it has launched a new lamp that uses 222nm far Ultraviolet-C (UVC) light to kill virus while being harmless to humans.PD-2012-01-222 can be attached to ceilings. It uses RFsemi’s power device and comes with a down light design.The lamp can be used up to 3,000 hours at 20W

A South Korean research team has developed a technology that uses optical networks to boost GPU capacity and bandwidth.A team led by electrical engineering professor Myoungsoo Jung of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) combined a DRAM and 3D Xpoint memory for a heterogeneous

Equipment maker SFA is looking to acquire Mujin Electronics’ wafer cleaning equipment business, TheElec has learned.SFA is attempting to widen its fab equipment portfolio from the back-end to the front-end.The acquisition will also allow the company to reduce reliance on its display and battery prod

Memory prices increased in July compared to the previous month, according to DRAMeXchange.Fixed PC DRAM (DDR4 8Gb) price was US$4.1 in July, a 7.89% increase from June.Memory prices usually increase the most at the start of the quarter thanks to new contract negotiations.In April, the fixed price of

Enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) contract prices are expected to increase 15% in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, according to market research firm TrendForce.Demand for SSDs are expected to increase from global data center companies expanding their servers.SSDs are more and more

LB Semicon said on Friday that it posted 121.6 billion won in sales and 12.6 billion won in operating income during the second quarter this year.It is an increase of 14% and 56.2%, respectively, from a year ago.LB Semicon became Samsung Electronics’ secondary vendor for CMOS image sensor testing las

Video semiconductor IP firm Chips&Media said on Thursday that posted sales of 3.28 billion won and operating income of 292 million won uni the second quarter.It is a drop of 15.57% and 51.39%, respectively, from a year ago.Licensing revenue fell from the previous year but the company has clinched pr

TSMC secured approval from Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration to build a new fab in the country, according to a report by Nikkei on Wednesday.The fab will built at Hsinchu Science Park close to the headquarters of the world’s largest foundry company.TSMC has been working to build an R&