Ateco Secures 8 Billion KRW Investment from Domestic Institutional Investors

A semiconductor inspection equipment company, Ateco, has attracted an investment of approximately 8 billion KRW from institutional investors including LB Investment.

This investment round included participation from LB Innovation Growth Fund II, JP-IBKS Innovation SoBuJang New Technology Investment Association, New Deal Extension New Technology Investment Association, and IBK Financial Group-Yuamco Mid-Stage Leap Fund.

Gu Jung-hoe, Executive Director of LB Investment and an expert in SoBuJang investments who participated in the Ateco investment, stated, “With the rapid growth of the AI-related semiconductor market and various form factor changes in semiconductor package and test processes, significant growth in this market is expected in the future. We decided to invest because Ateco quickly understands these trend changes and is preparing core technologies on a global scale, which is expected to realistically bring rapid results.”

Since its establishment in September 2012, Ateco has been a venture company accumulating technology centered on semiconductor back-end inspection equipment. It was recognized early for its technological capabilities by developing and exporting the world’s first 640-para module SLT automated handler and 32-para DDR5 module test handler.

Ateco is more recognized overseas through equipment development and supply with global semiconductor companies, starting transactions with a U.S. semiconductor company in 2017, followed by Japanese semiconductor companies and German automotive semiconductor companies.

In particular, Ateco is developing process equipment for HBM die testing with a U.S. memory semiconductor company. Since there is currently no solution for mass production processes for HBM die testing, if Ateco succeeds in developing a die tester, it is expected to bring a major shift in the HBM testing field. To this end, Ateco is developing a test cluster that adopts differentiated form factors and ultra-precision individual contact methods compared to competitors, aiming for customer verification within 2025 and is focusing on development.

Ateco is accelerating development of next-generation module package equipment such as LPCAMM (Low Power Compression Attached Memory Module) and CXL (Compute Express Link), and some equipment has already been developed and is being supplied, with future growth prospects expected.

In the domestic market, Ateco has been supplying equipment to memory semiconductor companies since 2019, and based on its development capabilities for next-generation package equipment, it is jointly developing equipment suitable for new form factors such as HBM, LPCAMM, and CXL with major domestic semiconductor companies, raising expectations for increased equipment orders in the future.

Lee Taek-seon, CEO of Ateco, said, “Ateco’s recognition and technological capabilities in equipment development, built up in the global semiconductor market, have led to accumulating development requests and order volumes from world-leading semiconductor companies. In line with the global AI trend, we will leverage our core technologies to grow into a representative global semiconductor equipment company.”