SK Hynix Places 9.7 Billion Won TC Bonder Order with Hanmi Semiconductor

Equipment Supply Contract Announced; Contract Runs Until April 1
TC Bonder: Thermal Compression of DRAM, Core to HBM Production
Potential Use of "TC Bonder 4" for HBM4; Deployment in Cheongju
Attention on Whether SK Hynix Is Resuming Equipment Investment

SK Hynix has placed an order worth approximately 9.7 billion won for the core high-bandwidth memory (HBM) manufacturing equipment, the "TC Bonder" (thermo-compression bonder), with Hanmi Semiconductor.

On January 14, Hanmi Semiconductor announced that it had signed a supply contract with SK Hynix for the "TC Bonder" equipment used in HBM manufacturing. The contract amount is 9.65 billion won (excluding VAT), and the contract period runs until April 1.

The TC Bonder is a key piece of equipment used to manufacture HBM for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors. In the production process of HBM, which involves stacking multiple DRAM chips, the TC Bonder is used in the process of applying heat and pressure to fix the DRAM chips together.

SK Hynix headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Yonhap News

According to industry sources, the typical price of a single TC Bonder is around 3 billion won. Based on this, it is estimated that approximately three units will be supplied to SK Hynix through this contract. It is highly likely that the equipment in question is the "TC Bonder 4," which will be used for the mass production of sixth-generation HBM (HBM4) that is ramping up this year. The equipment is expected to be deployed at SK Hynix's Cheongju plant.

Previously, SK Hynix had exclusively used Hanmi Semiconductor equipment for the HBM3E (fifth-generation) 12-layer manufacturing process, but since early last year, the company began diversifying its supply chain by adding Hanwha Semitec as a new partner. In fact, last year, SK Hynix signed TC Bonder supply contracts with both Hanmi Semiconductor and Hanwha Semitec, procuring equipment worth a cumulative total of 55.2 billion won and 80.5 billion won, respectively, from each company.

Accordingly, Hanmi Semiconductor delivered HBM manufacturing equipment worth 10.8 billion won in January and 42.8 billion won (including VAT) in May last year. Hanwha Semitec signed contracts to supply TC Bonders worth 21 billion won twice in March (totaling 42 billion won) and an additional 38.5 billion won in May. However, considering that Hanmi Semiconductor signed a small-scale contract worth 1.567 billion won in November last year, it can be interpreted that SK Hynix's orders for TC Bonder-related equipment have generally decreased since the second half of last year. Industry analysts have suggested that SK Hynix reduced its investments as part of efforts to control the pace of expansion. Against this backdrop, the latest equipment supply contract with Hanmi Semiconductor is noteworthy as it is the first TC Bonder contract signed this year, signaling a resumption of equipment investment by SK Hynix.

SK Hynix is moving to expand its HBM production capacity to respond to the rapidly increasing demand for AI semiconductors. As of September last year, the company had already established a mass production system for HBM4 and was supplying a large volume of paid samples to Nvidia. In effect, mass production appears to have begun as of September. In addition, SK Hynix and Nvidia are in the final stages of optimizing HBM4, and full-scale mass production of the final product is expected to begin early this year.