SK hynix validates HBM5 with TSMC on next-generation CoWoS
The South Korean chipmaker secured TSMC's partner award after completing thermal and electrical trials on eighth-generation memory for Nvidia's upcoming Vera Rubin accelerator platform.
Semiconductors & AI Hardware — South Korea
RSSMemory, foundry, equipment and materials across Korea, China and Japan — and the export rules that bound them. This page covers South Korea.
Evolution Metals expands Korea magnet plant to 10,000 tons
The US firm is scaling its Pohang facility ten-fold to 10,000 metric tons ahead of a January 2027 Pentagon ban on Chinese rare…
Qualcomm keeps TSMC for 2nm processors, shutting out Samsung Foundry
The mobile chipmaker affirmed its exclusive production tie to TSMC despite wafer costs topping $30,000, leaving Samsung with…
Korean power gear makers book grid orders on US fab growth
Surging battery storage deployments and grid bottlenecks across North America lift combined order backlogs at South Korea's three…
Commerce exempts South Korean biopharma from import tariffs on Sept. 29
New BIS rules grant zero-tariff entry for antibody-drug conjugates and cell therapies from 19 allied jurisdictions, shielding…
KKR deploys record $3 billion into South Korea AI hardware
The private equity firm is targeting data center platforms, enterprise services and clean generation capacity tied to advanced…
SK hynix weighs Intel alliance for U.S. memory productionMembers
Preliminary talks explore front-end wafer fabrication at Intel's Ohio site alongside SK hynix's $4 billion Indiana packaging…
SK hynix taps HanmiGlobal for $4B Indiana HBM packaging fab
The project management contract solidifies construction of America's first advanced AI memory facility in West Lafayette ahead of…
Doosan commits $725 million to expand AI chip laminate lines
The South Korean conglomerate will spend 968.4 billion won through 2028 across domestic and Chinese sites to meet surging demand…
SK hynix subsidiary Solidigm weighs NAND fab in New York
The South Korean memory producer said Sept. 18 that no terms are settled, as Washington pressures foreign chipmakers to onshore…
Samsung Electronics opens HBM4 base die supply to rival TSMC for AI
The South Korean memory maker will offer customers external wafer fabrication alongside its internal 4nm lines as it prepares…
TOK completes $76M chip chemical plant in Pyeongtaek, Korea
The Japanese supplier built the high-purity chemical facility to serve Samsung and SK hynix directly, with commercial operations…
SK hynix denies US memory fab deal with Intel at Ohio site
The South Korean memory maker refuted reports of leasing space at Intel's New Albany facility, while Seoul noted any HBM transfer…
Korea signs uranium and nuclear pacts with Kazakhstan in Seoul
The 13 bilateral pacts signed Sept. 15 target uranium from the top global producer and establish a joint critical metals…
Hanmi Semiconductor Wins Tool Order for Musk's Terafab PlantMembers
The South Korean packaging toolmaker secures its first supply contract for Elon Musk's Texas AI fab, though formal regulatory…
SK hynix taps TSMC for 3D DRAM logic, diverging from Samsung in 2026
The memory maker is outsourcing peripheral circuit fabrication to Taiwanese foundries, challenging Samsung Electronics' vertical…
DeepSeek cuts AI memory use 75%, rattling global chipmakers
The Chinese startup compressed key-value cache memory in its DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash model, erasing up to 3.5% of market value at…
OpenAI denies Samsung foundry deal for custom AI processors
A clarification follows Seoul executive remarks on joint chip work, keeping TSMC as primary fabricator while preserving Samsung…
SK hynix and foundries advance hybrid bonding for AI silicon in 2027
TSMC tasks Asian suppliers with developing five-micrometer microbumps while Samsung and SK hynix prepare direct copper…
Axcelis Invests $35 Million in South Korea Equipment Plant
The Massachusetts-based toolmaker will construct a 200,000-square-foot facility in Pyeongtaek to supply ion implanters directly…
Korea and France sign nuclear fuel and strategic tech pact
The bilateral agreements secure Western uranium enrichment for Korean reactors, establish high-level civil nuclear talks and back…
Samsung opens Yokohama chip packaging lab to rival TSMC lead
The $280 million research site secures Japanese state subsidies to integrate domestic materials suppliers into Samsung's backend…
Samsung deploys TSMC-tested photonics probers for CPO push
The South Korean chipmaker deployed FormFactor and MPI probe stations to inspect optical wafers internally, aligning with TSMC…
Samsung denies Chinese tool testing as US tightens fab controls
South Korean memory makers face annual US export reviews for their Chinese fabs as Washington curbs equipment servicing and…