Input 2021.01.29 15:08 | Revision 2021.01.29 15:26
Securing essential EUV equipment for semiconductor microprocessing
M16 likely to produce 4th generation DRAM EUV process
SK Hynix announced in a conference call held on the 29th after announcing the 4th quarter and annual results of 2020, saying, “The M16 to be completed on February 1st in Icheon, Gyeonggi is the world’s largest fab (factory) with a three-story structure.” “We plan to enter pilot mass production based on our latest technology,” he said.
“Looking at the trend of the DRAM market at the end of the year, we plan to variably carry out an appropriate mass production plan to meet the market demand. This is the time of mass production at the end of the pilot test, June this year. I will do it.”
About the EUV equipment and process-applied products currently being installed in the M16, SK Hynix said, “EUV equipment is already secured, and we are in close consultation with the equipment makers on how to secure mid- to long-term.”
Semiconductor performance and power efficiency are key to how fine circuits can be drawn on the original wafer. EUV equipment is essential for this.
EUV equipment is supplied exclusively by ASML in the Netherlands. The price per unit reaches 150 billion won and the production speed is slow, so semiconductor manufacturers are lined up to secure equipment. Samsung Electronics, the world’s number one system semiconductor, also flew directly to the Netherlands to secure this equipment by Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and met ASML officials.
SK Hynix decided to first apply the already secured EUV equipment to the 4th generation (1a) DRAM, which is aiming to introduce the EUV equipment within this year, which is a 10-nano (nm·1 nanometer is 1 billionth of a meter). A company official said, “(SK Hynix) has already secured EUV equipment, and is in close discussion with the equipment makers on how to secure mid- to long-term,” he said. “This year, we first applied it to the 10-nano-class 4th-generation DRAM, We plan to apply it from the 5th generation) DRAM.”
In a conference call that day, SK Hynix announced that it would spend about 10 trillion won on facility investment this year. It is to increase investment rather than using 9.9 trillion won last year, but it is still evaluated as a conservative investment. A company official said, “Last year, facility investment was less than 10 trillion won, but this year will increase slightly from last year.”
With the recent boom in global foundries (consignment production of semiconductors), SK Hynix decided to concentrate its capabilities on the foundry subsidiary SK Hynix System IC. The company originally planned to move the 200mm wafer facility in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province to its factory in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China by 2022, but decided to advance this plan. SK Hynix said, “We plan to move the 8-inch facility to China (Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province), where cost reduction is expected, in order to fully utilize this opportunity as the 8-inch boom is expected to continue.” It was decided to move the facility to China as quickly as possible,” he said.
Regarding the profitability of the NAND division, he said, “We have focused our company’s resources on securing technological competitiveness and mass production capacity (production capacity).” In addition, he said, “The cost may increase temporarily after the acquisition of the Intel NAND business, but we will speed up the improvement of NAND profitability within a short period of time.”
SK Hynix announced that it recorded an annual sales of 31 trillion won and an operating profit of 5 trillion won in 2020. This is an increase of 18% and 84%, respectively, from the previous year. The operating margin also increased by 6 percentage points from the previous year to 16%.