South Korean chip foundry DB Hitek on Wednesday confirmed that it was planning to expand into 12-inch wafer foundry service.DB Hitek CEO Choi Chang-shik confirmed as such during the company’s annual shareholders meeting.Choi said the company is aiming to expand its foundry business’ valuation to 4 t

SK Hynix has divided its procurement team for the first time, a move meant to strengthen the purchasing of components and equipment used in the back end of chip production.The procurement team is now divided to a front end team and another back end team, SK Hynix had said its filings to local regula

Fab equipment maker TES has developed a new plasma cleaner that is going through a quality test by a potential customer, TheElec has learned.South Korean chipmakers have relied on foreign fab equipment makers for the cleaners so TES’ move is meaningful, though commercialization is likely some time a

Hanmi Semiconductor vice chairman and CEO Kwak Dong-shin saw a huge valuation margin from his investment in fab equipment maker HPSP made two years ago, TheElec has learned.Kwang and Hanmi Semiconductor together bought 25% of the stock in the private company HPSP. Each spent 37.5 billion won for 12.

Chinese battery equipment maker Zhejiang Hangke will be forming a joint venture in South Korea, TheElec has learned.The company will form HK Power with a local company. Hangke will spend US$30 million in the venture.The move is likely to supply more equipment to main customer SK On. Hangke recently

Home appliance giant Dyson is planning to manufacture its own batteries, TheElec has learned.The UK company is planning to manufacture small pouch-type batteries in collaboration with South Korean equipment makers, sources said.Dyson is planning to build its factory in Singapore with an expected ann

SK Hynix was in talks with equipment maker YEST to procure high-pressure hydrogen annealing equipment, TheElec has learned.The pair were in the alpha test phase of their collaboration, sources said. If the equipment passes it will enter the beta test phase, the final stages before supply, they said.

Executive and employees of display and battery production equipment maker Toptec have been found guilty of leaking the technologies of customer Samsung Display to Chinese competitors.The Suwon High Court, the appeals court, overturned a ruling of not guilty from the district court on Tuesday and fou

It seems Japan’s trade restriction against South Korea for certain key materials used in advanced tech production that lasted four years is about to end.The South Korean government has agreed to pay compensation to its own citizens who were forced to work in Japanese factories during World Word Two.

Chip and display equipment maker Global Zeus is aiming to expand its robotics business this year, a company executive told TheElec Global Zeus Factory Automation Business ABD BU head Hwang Jae-ik said the company is planning to double the revenue from its robotics business this year.The company is a

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

LG Energy Solution said on Thursday that it will be forming a joint venture with Ford and Turkey’s Koc Group that will build a battery factory in Turkey.The three will aim to secure 25GWh in annual production capacity and start production in 2026.Ford and Koc had such an agreement originally with SK

US car giant Ford and South Korean battery maker SK On were in a dispute over the halting of the production F150 Lightning electric truck, TheElec has learned.Ford is claiming SK On’s faulty batteries were the cause. The South Korean company had countered that it was a one-time issue and that there

SK Hynix faced problems this month during DRAM production due to the high-k material having a quality issue, TheElec has learned.The zirconium (Zr) high-k material that was supplied by SK Trichem had impurities in them, sources said.This caused some of SK Hynix’s production equipment at its DRAM fab

Fab equipment maker Semes said on Thursday that it recorded 2.88 trillion won in revenue and a net income of 185.7 billion won for the entire year of 2022.Revenue and net income dropped 7.6% and 29.7%, respectively, from 2021.The decline is significant as Semes, a subsidiary of Samsung which owns 91

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

Hanwha Momentum, the battery equipment-making subsidiary of Hanwha Corporation, was asked by SK On to make compensations for the fire that happened at the latter’s battery factory in the US, TheElec has learned.The fire at SK On’s factory in the US started at the formation process part of the produc

EUV equipment maker ESOL will launch a prototype of its second-generation EUV equipment this year, CEO Kim Byung-gook told TheElec in an interview.Kim said the company last year secured 35 billion won in funding and most of it will be going into research and development.ESOL has launched four produc

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