DI, Full Benefits from 'Shortage' HBM Equipment Localization...Reason Behind the Rally

Record High Surpassed... 156% Increase This Year
Limitations in Supplying HBM Inspection Equipment... Growing Demand for Localization
Semiconductor Boom Benefits Extend from DRAM and NAND to HBM

Domestic semiconductor inspection equipment company DI has reached an all-time high again. Amid ongoing investments in High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), expectations are growing for benefits from the localization of inspection equipment.

According to the financial investment industry on the 4th, DI's stock price rose to 17,200 KRW during trading, marking a record high. DI's stock price has increased by 156% this year. Its market capitalization has exceeded 450 billion KRW.

Founded in 1961, DI is a domestic semiconductor inspection equipment company. It supplies DRAM and NAND burn-in testers as a vendor for Samsung Electronics. Its consolidated subsidiary, Digital Frontier (DF), has succeeded in localizing wafer testers in a market dominated by Japanese and American companies. It supplies memory wafers and burn-in testers as a partner of SK Hynix.

Semiconductor manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have recently been actively expanding HBM production capacity. Tae-woo Kwon, a researcher at KB Securities, said, "Demand for HBM inspection equipment will increase," adding, "Since DRAM stacking affects yield, demand for yield improvement-related equipment will continue to be highlighted."

HBM wafer testers can quickly identify defective products at the early stages of production. This improves the quality of the final product and reduces overall production costs. DI's subsidiary DF is developing specialized equipment for HBM and is expected to increase wafer processing speed by separating it into two functions.

Burn-in testing is an important process that guarantees the reliability of semiconductors and is used in fields requiring high reliability such as high-performance computing, automotive, and aerospace. Companies including DI supply equipment to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Burn-in testing is conducted in the post-processing stage and is used to verify whether semiconductor chips operate normally under extreme conditions such as high temperature and high voltage. Researcher Kwon predicted, "Based on DF's burn-in technology, equipment verification for HBM wafer testers is currently underway," adding, "Since this is essential equipment for HBM rather than general inspection equipment, demand for this equipment will increase as HBM generation replacement progresses."

KB Securities estimated that DI will achieve an operating profit of 27.1 billion KRW this year, a 342% increase compared to last year.

Seung-joo Yang, a researcher at Meritz Securities, explained, "Due to shortages and requests from end customers, the current focus for HBM is expanding production capacity and shortening supply lead times," adding, "To shorten lead times, HBM conducts burn-in and final testing at the wafer level rather than the package level for supply."

He continued, "Along with the steep expansion of HBM production capacity, the production capacity of Advantest, a Japanese wafer burn-in and final test inspection equipment company, has reached its limit," adding, "Since only wafer-level testing is conducted for supply, low yield issues continue."

He emphasized, "To resolve these issues, the subsidiary is developing a burn-in tester for HBM according to customer development requests," adding, "The domestic HBM leading company is approaching localization by starting with burn-in testing, which is a relatively low-performance area, rather than the high-performance final test area that requires Advantest's equipment."