SK hynix invests 4.7 trillion won in EUV equipment introduction by 2025

Input 2021.02.24 20:28 | Revision 2021.02.24 22:59

SK hynix (000660)Held a board meeting on the 24th and announced that it has decided to invest 4,754.9 billion won by December 2025 to purchase EUV (extreme ultraviolet) scanner machinery.

The counterparty is the Netherlands’ ASML, the world’s only manufacturer of EUV equipment.

SK Hynix said, “It is aimed at securing EUV equipment to respond to mass production of the next-generation process. We plan to acquire EUV equipment over a total of 5 years, and we will pay the cost by dividing each acquisition of individual equipment.”

EUV is used in the exposure process of drawing circuits on silicon wafers, which are raw materials for semiconductors. Compared to the conventional Arcon fluoride (ArF) light source, the wavelength is shorter, less than a 14th. As such, circuits can be drawn thinner and finer, so it is called the core of the semiconductor miniaturization process.

Currently, Samsung Electronics and TSMC are manufacturing semiconductors using EUV exposure technology. These companies are using EUV equipment for the manufacturing process of foundry (consignment production of semiconductors). Samsung Electronics succeeded in mass production by applying EUV process to 10-nano 4th generation DRAM.

SK Hynix is ​​mainly producing memory semiconductors with circuits using argon fluoride, and has recently introduced the EUV process. It is known that the development of the manufacturing process applying EUV is at the end.

The price per EUV equipment is known to be around 200 billion won on average. The semiconductor industry believes that SK Hynix will introduce 10-20 EUV equipment through this investment.