Samsung Electro-Mechanics' customer evaluation for glass substrates encounters obstacles, delaying equipment investment schedule
According to The Elec, Samsung Electro-Mechanics' investment schedule for semiconductor glass substrates has been delayed due to bottlenecks in the reliability assessment of customer prototypes. As a result, the construction schedule for the production line of GlaSSEM, the glass core joint venture between Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Dongyu Fine Chem, has also been postponed, and the timeline for ordering related equipment has become uncertain.The report states that GlaSSEM has failed to communicate the equipment order schedule to its partner manufacturers. Previous orders have been postponed from December last year to March and June this year, and this has happened more than three times. After June, no further schedule guidance has been provided. Industry insiders believe that the main reason is that global communication semiconductor customers have not passed the reliability assessment certification for glass substrate prototypes. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is still producing prototypes at its Sejong plant, and most of the suppliers for key processes required for building the mass production line, such as deposition, etching, laser drilling, and inspection, have already been selected.Since the prototypes need to be remade and resubmitted, the originally planned investment schedule will inevitably be further delayed. Samsung Electro-Mechanics had set a target for mass production in the second half of 2027 when establishing GlaSSEM earlier last month, but during last month's financial report meeting, this timeline was adjusted to 2028, and now the mass production time is expected to be further postponed.
