Shares in the Belgian group BE Semiconductor (BESI) took a bit hit, tumbling at lunchtime on Friday, after a report originating in South Korea. The stock was down over 16% shortly after 2 p.m.
At issue is an article by Korean site ZDNet, based on information obtained by Bloomberg. It says that chipmakers are considering loosening the standard that sets the thickness of next-generation memory chips. BESI is a specialist in hybrid bonding, a key process for next-generation HBM chips. If the standard is relaxed, the shift to hybrid technologies could be slower than expected, weighing on BESI's momentum. The company has an 80% market share in this niche.
ZDNet's article says the semiconductor industry is discussing a relaxation of thickness standards for next-generation HBM memory. With future HBM4E and HBM5, which will stack up to 20 layers of DRAM, thickness could rise from 775 µm today to 825-900 µm, or even more. The talks are taking place within JEDEC, which sets industry standards, and involve major players such as Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, Intel, TSMC, Nvidia and AMD.
BE Semiconductor Industries N.V. (Besi) specializes in the design, manufacturing and marketing of semiconductor assembly equipment for the global semiconductor and electronics industries. The group develops leading edge assembly processes and equipment for leadframe, substrate and wafer level packaging applications in a wide range of end-user markets including electronics, mobile Internet, computer, automotive, industrial, RFID, LED and solar energy.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: China (35%), Taiwan (12.1%), Malaysia (7.3%), Thailand (7.2%), South Korea (5.3%), Asia-Pacific (9.1%), the United States (14.6%), Europe (7.7%) and others (1.7%).
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