“The equipment, not directly damaged by the fire, requires a lot of work before it can be used again in the production line,” said an industry official. “It will not be as easy to normalize the Wuxi plant as originally thought.”
Fab equipment has to be
meticulously cleaned before it can be put back in production. You have to make
sure running the equipment would not produce particles. In addition every piece
of equipment impacted by the fire need to be recalibrated.
Hynix also mentioned:
"SK Hynix raised the
production capacity of the Icheon DRAM plant by 30% after the fire in the Wuxi
plant in China. Early next year the company is considering making additional
investments to extend the Icheon plant."
I am not clear how they can raise production 30% very quickly. They can shrink product masks set,
improve production process, or buy new equipment. Each one will take several
months to implement.
Ron
Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor
consulting.
Semiconductor information and news at -
http://www.maltiel-consulting.com/SK Hynix concentrates investment in the microfabrication process…in a bid to chase ‘two hares’ at a time
2013/11/21 By Lee Hyeong-soo
SK Hynix (CEO Park Seong-wook) announced on November 20 that it began to produce the 64Gb (gigabit) multi-level cell (MLC) NAND FLASH using the 16-nanometer microfabrication process technology.
It also completed the development of the 128Gb (16GB) package. It is the largest single 16-nanometer 64Gb MLC NAND FLASH chip. SK Hynix is planning to begin mass production of this product early next year.
In general, as the microfabrication process intensifies, the interference between memory cells takes place. SK Hynix overcame the inter-cell interference during the 16-nanometer microfabrication process by applying the air gap technology, which fills the space between circuits with air, not an insulating material.
SK Hynix is planning to convert the DRAM microfabrication process from upper 20-nanometer to lower 20-nanometer. Its strategy is to increase the global market share while raising the DRAM production capacity at the same time through the microfabrication process conversion. It is also reinforcing its product portfolio by concentrating on development of the triple-level cell (TLC) and 3D NAND FLASH.
“We became the first in the world to commercialize the 16-nanometer microfabrication process technology, and completed the development of the 128Gb MLC product,” said Kim Jin-woong, head of the SK Hynix Flash Tech Innovation Division. “We can secure powerful competiveness in the NAND FLASH market.”
SK Hynix seems to be concentrating on microfabrication process conversion because it intends to keep growing stably rather than impractical technology conversion. The top management, including CEO Park Seong-wook, is confident that it will not be behind Samsung Electronics as far as the microfabrication process technology is concerned.
The recent fire in the Wuxi plant in China greatly influenced next year’s business strategy. SK Hynix believes that it is unreasonable to seek rapid changes, such as production of 3D semiconductors, when one of its global production bases, i.e. the Wuxi plant, is unstable.
SK Hynix raised the production capacity of the Icheon DRAM plant by 30% after the fire in the Wuxi plant in China. Early next year the company is considering making additional investments to extend the Icheon plant. The Wuxi plant was expected to be normalized sometime this month, but there is a possibility of delay.
SK Hynix is focused on recovering the production capacity while concentrating on investing in the Icheon DRAM line for the time being. If the microfabrication process conversion is successful, it will be able to achieve 7~8%ish growth next year without any additional investment in equipment. As the DRAM price skyrocketed, the fire of the Wuxi plant did not cause much financial damage, but if it does not defend the market share to a certain extent, it may boomerang in the future. DRAM also looks attractive in terms of profits. As the short supply continues, the DRAM price is continuously rising.
“The equipment, not directly damaged by the fire, requires a lot of work before it can be used again in the production line,” said an industry official. “It will not be as easy to normalize the Wuxi plant as originally thought.”
Lee Hyeong-soo | goldlion2@etnews.com
SK Hynix (CEO Park Seong-wook) announced on November 20 that it began to produce the 64Gb (gigabit) multi-level cell (MLC) NAND FLASH using the 16-nanometer microfabrication process technology.
It also completed the development of the 128Gb (16GB) package. It is the largest single 16-nanometer 64Gb MLC NAND FLASH chip. SK Hynix is planning to begin mass production of this product early next year.
In general, as the microfabrication process intensifies, the interference between memory cells takes place. SK Hynix overcame the inter-cell interference during the 16-nanometer microfabrication process by applying the air gap technology, which fills the space between circuits with air, not an insulating material.
SK Hynix is planning to convert the DRAM microfabrication process from upper 20-nanometer to lower 20-nanometer. Its strategy is to increase the global market share while raising the DRAM production capacity at the same time through the microfabrication process conversion. It is also reinforcing its product portfolio by concentrating on development of the triple-level cell (TLC) and 3D NAND FLASH.
“We became the first in the world to commercialize the 16-nanometer microfabrication process technology, and completed the development of the 128Gb MLC product,” said Kim Jin-woong, head of the SK Hynix Flash Tech Innovation Division. “We can secure powerful competiveness in the NAND FLASH market.”
SK Hynix seems to be concentrating on microfabrication process conversion because it intends to keep growing stably rather than impractical technology conversion. The top management, including CEO Park Seong-wook, is confident that it will not be behind Samsung Electronics as far as the microfabrication process technology is concerned.
The recent fire in the Wuxi plant in China greatly influenced next year’s business strategy. SK Hynix believes that it is unreasonable to seek rapid changes, such as production of 3D semiconductors, when one of its global production bases, i.e. the Wuxi plant, is unstable.
SK Hynix raised the production capacity of the Icheon DRAM plant by 30% after the fire in the Wuxi plant in China. Early next year the company is considering making additional investments to extend the Icheon plant. The Wuxi plant was expected to be normalized sometime this month, but there is a possibility of delay.
SK Hynix is focused on recovering the production capacity while concentrating on investing in the Icheon DRAM line for the time being. If the microfabrication process conversion is successful, it will be able to achieve 7~8%ish growth next year without any additional investment in equipment. As the DRAM price skyrocketed, the fire of the Wuxi plant did not cause much financial damage, but if it does not defend the market share to a certain extent, it may boomerang in the future. DRAM also looks attractive in terms of profits. As the short supply continues, the DRAM price is continuously rising.
“The equipment, not directly damaged by the fire, requires a lot of work before it can be used again in the production line,” said an industry official. “It will not be as easy to normalize the Wuxi plant as originally thought.”
Lee Hyeong-soo | goldlion2@etnews.com
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