Hanmi Semiconductor has risen to the top of the global semiconductor cutting equipment market, five years after replacing its reliance on Japanese technology with its own. Following the success of its TC Bonder for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the 'Micro Saw & Vision Placement (MSVP)' has emerged as a new growth driver.
On September 30, Hanmi Semiconductor announced that its MSVP equipment, equipped with the self-developed 'Micro Saw,' has achieved the number one market share globally.
MSVP is a post-processing equipment that precisely cuts semiconductor packages, followed by cleaning, drying, inspection, sorting, and stacking. It is used not only for DRAM, NAND flash, and HBM but also for system semiconductors, printed circuit boards (PCBs), and glass substrate processes.
Hanmi Semiconductor first launched its vision placement equipment in 1998, but at that time, it sourced cutting equipment from Japan's Disco. In 2019, due to supply issues with Disco equipment amid a semiconductor boom, the company began developing its own technology and successfully localized the 'Micro Saw' in 2021.
Since localization, both cost and delivery competitiveness have improved. With one company supplying cutting equipment and inspection and stacking facilities, customers can streamline equipment installation and after-sales service. The latest product, 'MSVP 6.0 Griffin,' incorporates over 207 patented technologies.
MSVP is already expanding its share in actual orders. On September 28, Hanmi Semiconductor signed a supply contract worth approximately 7.9 billion won with UTAC's Thailand subsidiary. In the second quarter of this year, the increase in sales of MSVP, along with TC Bonder, was cited as a key factor in achieving record quarterly revenue of 251.1 billion won.
Sales are also rapidly increasing. The MSVP equipped with the self-developed Micro Saw is expected to sell over 200 units this year, more than double the previous year. The company anticipates sales will rise to about 350 units by 2027.
Looking ahead, panel-level packaging (PLP) is identified as a growth driver. As AI semiconductors become larger, the need for technology that packages multiple chips on a rectangular panel, which is wider than a circular wafer, is increasing. As the application of PLP and glass substrates grows, demand for MSVP in precision cutting and inspection processes is also expected to rise.
A Hanmi Semiconductor official stated, 'With the MSVP following the TC Bonder for HBM, Hanmi Semiconductor has proven its competitiveness in semiconductor equipment technology. We expect MSVP sales to continue to grow with the rise of AI semiconductors. In October, we will establish our U.S. subsidiary, Hanmi USA, to respond quickly to local customer demand and further solidify our global leadership.'
* This article has been translated by AI.
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