ADChips Begins Development of 12-Inch Wafer-Based Semiconductors for Displays to Meet Growing Demand

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] AD Chips, a semiconductor design specialist company, is embarking on the development of new semiconductors to respond to the surge in demand caused by the semiconductor supply shortage.

AD Chips announced on the 30th that it has started developing semiconductors based on 12-inch wafers applied to display products.

A company official said, “We have begun developing semiconductors based on 12-inch wafers, which are 2.5 times larger in size compared to the existing 8-inch wafers in production,” adding, “12-inch wafers can produce more semiconductor chips than 8-inch wafers and have superior performance, so we expect an expansion in semiconductor supply to our customers in the future.”

The 8-inch wafer-based semiconductors for displays currently produced by AD Chips support only 640×480 pixels, but the 12-inch wafer-based semiconductors under development can support up to 800×600 pixels due to the application of fine processes. With support for 800×600 pixel resolution, clear and smooth images can be realized on 4 to 6-inch LCDs mainly used in home appliance displays.

Semiconductor chips manufactured on 12-inch wafers also have the advantage of being able to equip more input/output (I/O) terminals compared to the existing 8-inch wafers. Having more I/O terminals within a chip allows it to perform various functions with a single chip, making semiconductor integration and performance improvement very easy.

According to the semiconductor industry, the supply shortage of semiconductors such as automotive semiconductors, display driver chips, and power management semiconductors is expected to intensify until next year, leading to a sharp increase in semiconductor demand. AD Chips plans to actively respond to the rising semiconductor demand by rapidly developing 12-inch wafer-based semiconductors.

A company official said, “Development has been underway for about a year at our in-house research center, and full-scale production is scheduled to begin next year,” adding, “Since the performance of 12-inch wafer-based semiconductors is greatly improved compared to the existing 8-inch wafers, we expect it to significantly contribute to the sales growth of the semiconductor division.”