HANMI Semiconductor will supply SK hynix with the "TC bonder" (thermocompression bonder), a core high-bandwidth memory (HBM) manufacturing tool, in a deal worth 9.65 billion won.
HANMI Semiconductor disclosed on the 14th that it signed a supply contract with SK hynix for the above. The contract runs through Apr. 1, and the value equals 1.73% of 2024 sales. With additional supply contracts resuming after being relatively scarce since the second half of last year, some say SK hynix is accelerating efforts to strengthen HBM production capacity.
HBM stacks DRAM to raise bandwidth, enabling the transfer of large amounts of data at once, and has become a key component in artificial intelligence (AI) chips. A TC bonder is used in the process that fixes DRAM with heat and pressure. Considering that a TC bonder typically costs around 3 billion won per unit, the size of this supply is estimated at about three units.
Industry watchers expect the equipment HANMI Semiconductor supplied this time to be the "TC Bonder 4," used to make sixth-generation HBM (HBM4). SK hynix is said to be installing the equipment at its Cheongju plant and plans to start mass production of HBM4 this year. SK hynix established a mass production system for HBM4 in September last year and is supplying a large volume of paid samples to Nvidia. Optimization work with Nvidia for HBM4 is also in the final stages, and mass production of finished products is expected to begin early this year.
Previously, SK hynix used HANMI Semiconductor equipment exclusively for the 12-layer HBM3E (5th generation) manufacturing process, but from early last year it brought in Hanwha Semitek as a new partner to diversify its supply chain. Last year, SK hynix received equipment from HANMI Semiconductor totaling 55.2 billion won on a cumulative basis and signed cumulative supply contracts with Hanwha Semitek totaling 80.5 billion won.