Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong inspected a semiconductor production site wearing a cleanroom suit. Even on his birthday on the 23rd, he took to on-site management, signaling his intent to strengthen competitiveness in high-bandwidth memory (HBM).
According to Samsung Electronics, Lee visited the Cheonan business site in South Chungcheong Province that day to inspect the HBM production site. With demand for HBM surging as the artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor market expands, he personally reviewed response capabilities for supplying next-generation memory and competitiveness in quality.
Lee visited the C1 and C2 lines at the Cheonan business site, receiving reports on site operations, production plans and the progress of technology development. He then donned a cleanroom suit and toured the HBM package production line to check the production and quality control systems.
The Cheonan business site is a key hub in charge of Samsung Electronics' HBM back-end process and advanced packaging. Advanced packaging is a technology that bundles multiple semiconductors into one to improve performance and power efficiency. HBM is the core memory that determines AI accelerator performance, and its supply importance is growing as the Generative AI and high-performance computing markets expand.
The visit came as Samsung Electronics accelerates its push into the next-generation HBM market. Samsung Electronics succeeded in mass production and shipment of HBM4, its sixth-generation product, in February, and in May supplied 12-high HBM4E seventh-generation samples to global customers. With HBM4 mass production and HBM4E sample supply proceeding about every three months, observers say the company is rapidly advancing its development and supply timeline for next-generation AI memory.
Business results are also emerging. According to the industry, HBM4, which began mass production shipments in February, has surpassed $1 billion (about 1.5339 trillion won) in cumulative sales in about four months. As of the end of June, cumulative sales are expected to exceed $1.2 billion.
The role of the Cheonan business site is also growing. For HBM, competitiveness in the back-end process—stacking DRAM chips vertically and packaging them—determines product performance and Production yield. The Cheonan business site is cited as a hub that supports Samsung Electronics' expansion of HBM production and stabilization of quality.