Hanwha Semitec to Launch Hybrid Bonder Early Next Year

Alibaba and Baidu in China train AI with self-designed semiconductor chips.
Chinese tech companies Alibaba and Baidu have begun training artificial intelligence (AI) models using semiconductor chips they designed themselves, the American information technology (IT) media outlet The Information reported on the 11th (local time).

Citing four sources, the outlet reported that Alibaba has been using its own chips to train small AI models since the beginning of this year, and that Baidu is experimenting with training a new version of its AI model, Ernie, using the Kunlun P800 chip.

The Information cited three employees who have used Alibaba’s AI chip as saying it is now good enough to compete with Nvidia’s lower-end H20 chip for China.

DB HiTek launches next-generation power semiconductor business, adding GaN process
DB HiTek announced on the 11th that it recently added a “650V field-mode gallium nitride high-electron-mobility transistor (E-Mode GaN HEMT)” process. Furthermore, the company plans to provide GaN-specific MPWs (multi-project wafers) for customers to pilot-produce products at the end of October.

DB HiTek is also expanding its high-efficiency, ultra-small next-generation power semiconductor business utilizing materials such as GaN and SiC (silicon carbide). 

DB HiTek has been developing processes for compound semiconductors as a next-generation business since 2022, when the market was still in its early stages.

TES successfully commercializes key equipment for SiC power semiconductors.
TES, a specialized semiconductor equipment manufacturer, announced on the 8th that it has successfully commercialized core equipment for SiC (silicon carbide) power semiconductors and will begin full-scale shipments.

HTCVD (High-Temperature Chemical Vapor Deposition), a key process for epitaxial growth in SiC power semiconductors, is a technically challenging process, and European and Japanese companies have virtually monopolized the supply. Leveraging core technology from high-temperature metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) for DUV (extreme ultraviolet) LEDs, which has been on the market since 2016, TES commercialized its SiC power device growth equipment, the HTCVD “TRION,” in just three years.

Surplus Global files patent for semiconductor equipment and components trading platform business model
Surplus Global announced that it has applied for a business model patent for a “method and system for providing a semiconductor process equipment and component market platform that provides matching functions according to demand and processing level” through the SemiMarket.com platform.

This patent application concerns a semi-market business model, including a system that predicts and requests transactions with exporters when an importer’s desired product is not available on the existing market. Furthermore, it incorporates an innovative technological approach that enhances the reliability and compliance of global transactions through import/export abuse detection and risk score management.

The explosion and fire at the Singda Power Plant in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, is raising concerns about power shortages for TSMC, the world’s largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing), Taiwanese media outlets, including the United News, reported on the 11th.

According to these reports, Taiwan Power Corporation (TPC) issued a “Power System Alert” on the 10th in response to the explosion and fire that occurred at the Kaohsiung Singda Power Plant on the 9th (local time). This alert is issued when there is concern about an emergency situation where the power reserve ratio falls below 6%.

The Southern Science Park is home to TSMC’s main production lines, producing chips for global IT companies such as Apple, Nvidia, Broadcom, and Samsung Electronics. TSMC’s production facilities are reportedly already operating at full capacity, driven by the recent surge in demand for AI semiconductors and the launch of new smartphone products.

Intel announces major personnel changes, appointing former Arm and Micron executives to senior positions
Intel, a struggling American semiconductor company, has undertaken a major reorganization and personnel shakeup. This is a major personnel change, just six months after CEO Lip Bu Tan took office. 

Intel announced today that it has appointed Kevork Kechichian as senior vice president and general manager of the Data Center Group (DCG). Kechichian will oversee Intel’s data center business across cloud and enterprise, including the Intel Xeon processor family.

He most recently served as Vice President of Engineering at Arm, and prior to Arm, held key engineering leadership positions at NXP Semiconductors and Qualcomm.

Hanwha Semitec to Launch Hybrid Bonder Early Next Year
Hanwha Semiconductor will launch its hybrid bonder, a key piece of equipment that will lead the future semiconductor market, early next year.

Hanwha Semiconductor announced its next-generation, advanced semiconductor packaging equipment development roadmap, which includes this blueprint, at SEMICON Taiwan 2025, an international semiconductor exhibition held in Taipei, Taiwan on the 10th. According to the development roadmap, the company plans to launch the fluxless bonder “SFM5 Expert+” and the hybrid bonder “SHB2 Nano” early next year.

Dreamy, a Chinese company that makes robot vacuum cleaners, is building an electric car factory in Germany
Dreamy, a Chinese company known for its robot vacuum cleaners, is pushing ahead with plans to establish an automobile factory in Germany. The company is accelerating its efforts, aiming to launch an electric vehicle by 2027. 

Dreamy announced on the 12th that its CEO, Wei Hao, recently visited Germany and personally worked on selecting a site for a new Dreamy Automobile factory. 

Dreamy is considering the Brandenburg region of Germany as a prime candidate for electric vehicle production, aiming to enter the luxury car market. Establishing a factory there would allow the company to leverage the local automotive parts supply chain, shortening its R&D cycle and reducing logistics costs. At the same time, it would secure an efficient production and distribution network spanning across Europe.

GM’s electric vehicle business faces backlash over US detention; LG Ensol withdraws engineers from joint venture plant
Reuters reported on the 11th that a significant number of Korean workers at the Ultium Cells plant 2, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solutions in Spring Hill, Tennessee, have returned home or are preparing to return in recent days due to visa issues.

Other LG Energy Solution employees currently in the United States have reportedly been instructed to return to Korea by the end of this week under the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) visa waiver program. This includes subcontractors working on-site.

This is a preemptive measure to prevent incidents like the recent large-scale crackdown by U.S. immigration authorities on workers at the Hyundai Motor Company-LG Energy Solution joint venture plant in Georgia. 

The lawsuit between SK Nexilis and Solus Advanced Materials intensifies
Early last month, SK Nexilis filed a request for an amendment to its patent infringement lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The request seeks a concurrent review of the patent infringement case filed against Solus Advanced Materials and its subsidiary Volta Energy Solus in November 2023, along with the question of whether trade secrets were misappropriated or misused.

A total of five patent infringement lawsuits filed by SK Nexilis are currently being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Four patents were filed in November 2023, and one was added in May of last year. All of these patents relate to methods for controlling the physical and surface properties of copper foil to enable it to withstand greater forces and stretch more easily. Solus Advanced Materials, on the other hand, maintains that the opposing patents are invalid because they already existed in copper foil products manufactured by its subsidiaries and across the industry for decades.

Hyundai Mobis aims to become a top 3 parts supplier in Europe, a fiercely contested market for electrification and SDVs
Hyundai Mobis has once again emphasized its ambition to become a global top 3 parts company in Europe, a battleground for new technologies in electrification and software-driven vehicles (SDV).

On the 9th (local time), Hyundai Mobis held a forum titled “Mobis’ Past, Present, and Future” at the Yellow Stage of the ESSE exhibition center in Munich, Germany, where the “IAA Mobility 2025,” Europe’s largest mobility show, opened.

Axel Mashuka, Vice President and Head of Sales at Hyundai Mobis, presented the case study, highlighting how Hyundai Mobis’ new technologies have been realized through global orders and its future technology strategy. “Our vision of becoming a global top 3 company in the mid- to long-term is clear,” Mashuka said. “Our approach, turning crises into opportunities, will be the driving force behind this.”

Top Materials Registers Japanese Patent for Technology Related to Manufacturing Positive Electrode Materials
Top Material, a total solution specialist for secondary batteries, announced on the 11th that a technology patent for the overall manufacturing of high-manganese LNMO (lithium-nickel-manganese oxide) cathode active materials has been registered in Japan.

According to the company, the patent relates to “positive electrode active material including spinel composite solid solution oxide, method for manufacturing the same, and lithium secondary battery including the same,” and was registered in Korea on October 15, 2020. This decision to register in Japan will further strengthen rights protection in major Asian markets.

WCP Launches Sodium Battery Separator Business in Full Swing
WCP, a company specializing in separators, announced on the 12th that it recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a European sodium battery manufacturer for the supply of separators.

The company emphasized that this is the first MOU signed by a Korean separator company for the purpose of supplying sodium battery products. The company explained that this is the result of two years of smooth product development and numerous tests with the client. WCP is also participating in the government’s sodium battery separator national project.

Sodium batteries are not only much cheaper and more abundant than lithium-ion batteries in terms of raw materials, but they also have very little performance degradation in extreme cold or heat environments and are considered to be very safe. 

China’s CATL begins work on restarting lithium mines
CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, is expected to restart production at a lithium mine that halted production last month.

According to local media outlets such as China Daily on the 10th, CATL’s subsidiary Yichun Shidai held a working-level meeting the previous day to restart the Jianshao Lithium Mine in Yichun City, Jiangxi Province.

Multiple sources said, “The permit review process for the mine license renewal is progressing smoothly,” and that “restarting operations appears likely to occur soon.” They added, “It’s highly likely that this will happen even earlier than the market’s earliest anticipated restart date.”

Amazon enters the driverless car market, challenging Waymo and Tesla.
Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, launched a free ride service for its driverless taxi, Zoox, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on the 10th (local time). 

Zoox launched its free service on the Strip, Las Vegas’s premier tourist and entertainment hub. Located 6.8km south of Las Vegas Boulevard, the Strip, home to world-class hotels and casinos, is the city’s busiest area. With numerous intersections, high-speed traffic, and a significant pedestrian presence, it’s ideal for demonstrating complex autonomous driving technology.

Samhyun Completes Commercial Development of High-Load Autonomous Driving Robot
Samhyun, a motion control specialist, announced on the 9th that it has completed the commercial development of the ‘Heavy-duty Autonomous Mobile Robot (HAMR) for smart factory logistics automation’, which it has been preparing for many years, for the first time in Korea, and plans to unveil it at ‘2025 RoboWorld’.

According to the company, Samhyun’s HAMR is equipped with a safe driving system based on a quadruple safety system that combines 3D LiDAR, vision, ultrasound, and bumper sensors, encrypted communication based on Wi-Fi and LTE, and an industrial control system (ACS), allowing it to immediately demonstrate competitiveness in manufacturing, logistics, and shipbuilding industries. 

Qualcomm Unveils Self-Driving Platform Jointly Developed with BMW
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon Ride Pilot, an autonomous driving system based on a software stack jointly developed with the BMW Group, at the IAA 2025 motor show held in Munich, Germany.

The Snapdragon Ride Pilot is built on Qualcomm’s system-on-chip (SoC), Snapdragon Ride, and a software stack jointly developed by Qualcomm and BMW. Over 1,400 experts from both companies, across various regions including Germany, the United States, Sweden, and Romania, participated in the three-year development process.

The software stack consists of a perception stack developed by Qualcomm itself and a driving policy engine jointly developed with BMW.

LiDAR specialist SOS Lab to participate in SEMICON Taiwan
LiDAR specialist SOS Lab announced on the 11th that it will participate in the international semiconductor exhibition ‘SEMICON Taiwan 2025’ held in Taipei, Taiwan.

At this exhibition, SOS Lab plans to showcase its flagship innovative products to global industry professionals, including the recently completed next-generation 2D LiDAR ‘GL-5 Series’ and the fixed-mount 3D LiDAR ‘ML Series’.

SOS Lab’s lidar solutions are widely applied to logistics robots such as semiconductor wafer transfer robots (OHT), autonomous mobile robots (AMR), and unmanned guided vehicles (AGV), as well as key devices leading the era of physical AI (artificial intelligence), such as humanoids and smart factories.

Bonsystems Launches Next-Generation Robot Actuator ‘BCSA V4’
Robotics specialist Bonsystems announced on the 12th that it has officially launched the ‘BCSA V4’ series of high-performance robot actuators based on cycloid reduction technology.

According to the company, this new product maintains the strengths of the existing series while significantly improving its external structure and performance indicators. It features a design suited to intelligent robot platforms. The exterior is thinner and lighter, and heat dissipation and operating precision have been enhanced, increasing its potential for use in artificial intelligence (AI) robots, such as humanoids and quadruped robots, which require high-speed operation and continuous operation, the company explained.

Rapid Growth in Components and Materials for Foldable and Rollable Devices… A $700 Million Market Expected by 2029
According to the ‘2025 OLED Component Material Report’ recently published by market research firm UBI Research on the 11th, the sales of the cover window market applied to foldable and rollable devices are expected to grow from $320 million this year to $726 million in 2029.

Based on usage, it is expected to increase from approximately 33 million this year to 77 million in 2029.

The cover window is a key component attached to the outer surface of various information technology (IT) devices such as smartphones to protect the display substrate from external impact or contamination.

JDI Offers Voluntary Retirement to 60% of Workforce
Japan Display (JDI) is implementing a voluntary retirement program, reducing its workforce by approximately 60% due to its struggling display business. JDI announced that 1,483 employees have applied for the program, which covers 2,639 employees in Japan.

This represents 56% of JDI’s Japanese workforce. JDI announced its voluntary retirement target of 1,500 people in March, and the number of applicants has reached this number.

The workforce reduction due to this voluntary retirement is expected to continue until March 2027.

Source kipost.net