SK하이닉스 P&T 담당 최우진 부사장은 지난 30년간 메모리 반도체 패키징 연구 개발에 매진하며, 최근 HBM으로 대표되는 AI 메모리의 핵심 기술로 부상한 이 분야를 이끌어 가고 있다.
▲SK Hynix P&T Vice President Woojin Choi (Photo: SK Hynix)
“Packaging and Testing Innovations, Key Factors in Semiconductor Hegemony”
Plans to build US plant to strengthen advanced packaging R&D
Beyond HBM, Target of Acquiring Innovative Packaging Technology and Focusing on the Field
SK Hynix P&T Vice President Woojin Choi has been dedicated to research and development of memory semiconductor packaging for the past 30 years, and is leading this field, which has recently emerged as a core technology for AI memory represented by HBM.
As the technological environment is changing rapidly to the extent that packaging is dominating the AI memory market landscape, Vice President Choi, who took office as the head of the P&T (Package & Test) organization at the end of last year, announced his goal to prove SK Hynix's technological superiority.
■ “Don’t put limits on challenges”...Attitude to maintain dominance in the AI market P&T is an organization in charge of semiconductor post-processing. It brings wafers that have completed the full process at the fab, packages them into product form, and tests whether they operate according to customer requirements.
Among them, packaging is emerging as a key technology that realizes differentiated product performance beyond the existing role of electrically connecting chips and protecting them from external impact.. The status of advanced packaging technologies such as TSV and MR-MUF has completely changed as they are applied as core technologies to SK Hynix HBM.
“P&T technology innovation is emerging as a key factor in determining the semiconductor hegemony competition,” said Vice President Choi. “In the AI era, when demand for high-performance chips is skyrocketing, we will contribute to the development of the highest-performance memory with advanced packaging technology.”
He emphasized, “The reason the status of South Korea’s semiconductor industry has reached its current level is thanks to ‘relentless challenge,’” and “At a time when countries around the world are investing massive amounts of capital to secure market leadership, limitless challenge has greater meaning.”
Vice President Choi presented the development of ‘Signature Memory’ as a key strategy to innovate AI memory, a key axis in the semiconductor hegemony competition.
He revealed the direction of SK Hynix's memory strategy, saying, "In step with the AI era, SK Hynix is focusing on 'signature memory' that has the performance that customers want, including various functions, sizes, shapes, and power efficiency."
To achieve this, the company said it is focusing on developing various advanced packaging technologies, such as chiplets and hybrid bonding, which will contribute to the development of new types of semiconductors by helping to combine heterogeneous memory and non-memory chips, while advancing technologies such as TSV and MR-MUF, which play a key role in HBM performance.
SK Hynix hinted that it would demonstrate its strong technological edge through this.
■ A series of bold challenges that have led to innovation...Establishing a global production base;">
▲SK Hynix P&T Vice President Woojin Choi (Photo: SK Hynix)
The reason Vice President Choi emphasizes challenges can be found in his past actions. In 2020, Vice President Choi contributed to improving product performance by successfully developing a heat dissipation solution for HBM3, and in 2023, he helped overcome the downturn crisis by reducing material costs and expenses.
He also contributed to strengthening the company's leading position in AI memory by quickly securing a production line to respond to the increasing demand for DRAM due to the ChatGPT craze.
Vice President Choi said, “Last year, when demand for AI memory suddenly increased, it was difficult to respond immediately,” adding, “However, we were able to quickly increase production of server-oriented 3DS module products based on DDR5 DRAM without additional investment by utilizing the TSV packaging line.”
He recalled that it was an example of a bold decision made in a short period of time that was effective, saying, “If I had hesitated, I would never have been able to achieve it.”
Now, Vice President Choi’s challenge will expand overseas. On the 4th, SK Hynix announced plans to establish a packaging production facility in Indiana, USA, to enhance its competitiveness in the global HBM market and strengthen its R&D capabilities in the advanced packaging field.
Vice President Choi played a key role in this process, including developing fab construction and operation strategies. In the future, the US packaging plant will be built as a space to produce finished products by bringing in HBM wafers that have completed all the processes at the headquarters and to continue active development cooperation with global companies.
He said, “We are currently concretizing the fab design and mass production system and preparing to build an R&D cooperation ecosystem with global companies. Once the factory is fully operational, we expect it to greatly contribute to strengthening the company’s AI memory technology and business leadership.”
■ Data-driven innovation toward Beyond HBM, focusing on member growth Vice President Choi mentioned maximizing profitability and 'Beyond HBM' as P&T's main missions. He said, "In the short term, we will strengthen domestic production capacity to respond to HBM demand and maximize profitability by making good use of our global base," and "In the long term, our goal is to secure innovative packaging technology such as MR-MUF, which is currently the core of HBM."
To achieve this, Vice President Choi emphasizes, “Find the answer in the data.” This is the philosophy and innovation know-how he has maintained while working in the packaging industry for decades.
He emphasized, “Just like the famous quote from a certain drama, ‘The answer is in the field,’ there is a huge amount of data in the P&T process field.” He added, “If we utilize this well, we can increase yield and get hints for developing new products, so we need to approach our work with the mindset that data provides a shortcut to growth.”
Finally, Vice President Choi emphasized that he would not spare any support for the growth of members. He said, “The main characters who raised the status of packaging technology are none other than our members,” and “all the groundbreaking improvements, such as resolving HBM’s heat dissipation issue at the packaging stage, originated from our members’ ideas.”
Vice President Choi is working hard to establish a foundation for the members’ continuous growth. He said, “Our company is actively interacting with domestic and international universities and research institutes, and we plan to actively utilize this to support P&T members to gain diverse global experiences and further develop R&D capabilities,” and expressed his hope that “Through this, we will create a P&T that grows and develops together with its members.”
