substrate

Samsung Electronics' wafer foundry division has recently surpassed 50% in the allocation of production capacity for the sixth-generation high bandwidth memory HBM4 substrate chips in the 4-nanometer process. The industry states that this division will invest more than half of its 4-nanometer wafers into HBM4 substrate chip manufacturing in the second half of this year to expand supply to companies like NVIDIA, Broadcom, and AMD.Samsung initiated mass production and shipment of HBM4 in February this year and plans to increase supply starting from the third quarter, significantly increasing the related wafer input since mid-year. This chip is based on Samsung's wafer foundry 4-nanometer (SF4) process. As of last month, over 50% of its total 4-nanometer capacity has been allocated to HBM4 substrate chips. According to insiders, Samsung's 4-nanometer process is currently at full capacity, with HBM4 substrate chips accounting for about 50% to 60%, and this high proportion will be maintained in the second half of the year.Samsung's wafer foundry production lines at Pyeongtaek Plant 2 and Plant 3 are mass-producing processes ranging from 4 to 7 nanometers, with a monthly capacity of about 30,000 wafers for the 4-nanometer process. Based on this, the wafer input related to HBM4 substrate chips is estimated to be about 15,000 wafers per month. During the second quarter earnings call, Samsung stated that it expects HBM4 revenue to increase more than threefold quarter-over-quarter in the third quarter, with HBM4 revenue in the second half expected to exceed 60% of the company's overall HBM revenue.

According to Citrini analyst Jukan, SK Hynix is working on diversifying the foundry suppliers for the substrate chips used in high bandwidth memory (HBM), which are constructed by vertically stacking multiple memory chips. It is reported that the company is considering outsourcing part of the substrate chip production for the seventh generation HBM, namely HBM4E, to Intel's foundry. So far, SK Hynix has relied entirely on TSMC for outsourcing substrate chip production.This move is seen as an effort to establish a multi-supplier foundry strategy to reduce the concentration of the supply chain on TSMC while enhancing SK Hynix's bargaining power in pricing. According to industry insiders on August 31, SK Hynix is advancing a plan where the substrate chips for HBM4E may be jointly manufactured by TSMC and Intel, potentially starting from the HBM4E generation.As the market expects the cost burden of substrate chips for HBM4E to further increase. Since HBM products are mainly covered by long-term supply agreements (LTA), SK Hynix also finds it difficult to immediately pass on the higher foundry costs to customers by raising product prices. Therefore, industry observers believe that if Intel ultimately joins SK Hynix's substrate chip supply chain, the company will gain more options in terms of cost competitiveness and supply stability.

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.

ChainCatcher message, the Polkadot council passed proposal number 393 to fix the incorrect referendum caused by a Substrate bug and correctly reset the Watr parachain genesis block. (source link)