The appearance of HANMI Semiconductor's 'TC Bonder 4' for the 6th generation high bandwidth memory (HBM4) and Chairman Kwon Dong-shin. /Courtesy of HANMI Semiconductor

HANMI Semiconductor and Hanwha Semiconductor have signed additional supply contracts with SK hynix regarding the critical manufacturing equipment 'TC bonder' for high bandwidth memory (HBM).

On the 16th, HANMI Semiconductor announced that it had signed a supply contract with SK hynix for HBM TC bonder equipment worth 42.8 billion won. On the same day, Hanwha Semiconductor also noted that it had signed a contract to supply HBM TC bonder equipment worth 38.5 billion won to SK hynix.

However, unlike HANMI Semiconductor, the amount disclosed by Hanwha Semiconductor is exclusive of value-added taxes, and it is known that including VAT, the order sizes are similar to those of HANMI Semiconductor.

The TC bonder is a key piece of equipment needed to manufacture HBM for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors. HBM is produced by stacking multiple DRAM chips, and the TC bonder is used in the process of applying heat and pressure to secure the DRAM.

Although HANMI Semiconductor has been the market leader supplying TC bonders exclusively to SK hynix, Hanwha Semiconductor recently joined the supply chain.

Earlier, in March, Hanwha Semiconductor signed contracts to deliver HBM TC bonders worth 21 billion won each to SK hynix in two separate batches, totaling 42 billion won. With this latest contract, the cumulative supply amount over three rounds is 80.5 billion won.