Seok-hee Lee, CEO of SK Hynix, briefly stated that there is no immediate impact regarding concerns that China's plant expansion will be disrupted in the aftermath of the war for hegemony between the U.S. and China. CEO Lee met with reporters at the '14th Semiconductor Day' ceremony held at COEX in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 22nd. He talked about the prospect of delays in the introduction of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) equipment at the Wuxi plant in China, and said, "We are cooperating with the U.S. government, and responding well to the situation. There is still a lot of time until the introduction of EUV at Chinese factories. The mass production of D-RAM using EUV will be done first at domestic plants.”
Some media outlets recently reported that the U.S. would block ASML from exporting EUV lithography equipment to China due to the U.S.-China conflict, which will make it difficult for SK Hynix's Wuxi plant to switch to microprocessing. This is interpreted as EUV cutting-edge process will be introduced mainly in domestic factories. Considering that application of EUV in Korea is at its beginning stage implies that the introduction to a Chinese plant is still a far-fetched scenario.
SK Hynix mass-produced mobile D-RAM for the first time at its factory (FAB) in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do in July with a 10-nanometer class (nm) 4th generation (1a) process using EUV equipment. The company plans to expand the application of EUV process to Yongin FAB to improve memory productivity and cost competitiveness.
CEO Lee suggested that the acquisition of Intel's NAND flash business is proceeding smoothly, and said, "We are actively cooperating and supporting with the Chinese government.” SK Hynix is continuing to discuss with the Chinese government for its approval with the goal of successful acquisition of Intel's NAND flash division within this year.
Meanwhile, the event was attended by about 300 industry, academia, and research officials in the semiconductor field, including Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Seung-wook Moon, president of Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, Jung-bae Lee, and the CEO of SK Hynix Seok-hee Lee. Minister Moon said, "We will implement the recently announced 'K-Semiconductor Strategy' to actively support private companies without any setbacks, and build the world's best semiconductor supply chain.”
By Staff Reporter Ji-woong Kim (jw0316@etnews.com)