Hanmi Semiconductor has secured a KRW 44.2 billion order from SK hynix for manufacturing equipment used in sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4), signaling that SK hynix has begun expanding its capital investment as it moves toward mass production of HBM4.
On June 8, Hanmi Semiconductor disclosed that it had signed a sales and supply contract with SK hynix for TC bonder “4.5 Griffin” equipment used in HBM4 manufacturing. The contract is valued at KRW 44.2 billion, equivalent to 7.66% of the company's 2024 revenue of KRW 576.6 billion.
HBM bonders are equipment used to vertically stack and bond DRAM chips. Hanmi Semiconductor previously launched its “TC Bonder 4” for HBM4 in May last year and has since upgraded the system for delivery to SK hynix. The equipment is reportedly being installed at SK hynix's back-end processing fab in Cheongju.
SK hynix, the global leader in the HBM market, already operates the largest number of HBM bonding tools. However, it had taken a relatively cautious approach to additional investments since the second half of last year. This cautious stance, amid the transition from HBM3E to HBM4, had raised concerns in the industry about potential delays in HBM4 mass production.
The latest order is seen as easing those concerns, as SK hynix begins scaling up HBM4 production. Earlier, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, whose company is the largest customer of SK hynix's HBM, stated during his visit to Korea on June 5 that “all three memory companies have passed HBM4 qualification tests and are moving into mass production.”
Following Samsung Electronics' industry-first shipment of HBM4 in February, SK hynix has also entered large-scale production, and the latest purchase is interpreted as an investment to expand manufacturing capacity.
The order from SK hynix is nearly on par with Hanmi Semiconductor's total orders from the company last year, which stood at KRW 55.2 billion. Additional orders from SK hynix are expected to further increase the contract volume going forward.
