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SK keyfoundry has announced a significant advancement in its compound power semiconductor strategy by accelerating the development of silicon carbide (SiC)-based technologies. This move marks a major step in its efforts to expand into the global power semiconductor market. Central to this strategy is the recent acquisition of SK powertech, a company with established expertise and commercialized products in the SiC sector.
Leveraging its strong manufacturing capabilities and extensive intellectual property portfolio, SK keyfoundry plans to integrate SK powertech’s advanced SiC processes and design technologies to generate strategic synergy across its operations. The acquisition positions SK keyfoundry to achieve technological self-sufficiency in SiC power devices, enhancing its competitiveness in next-generation compound semiconductor markets.
The company is now targeting the development of SiC MOSFET 1200V process technologies by the end of 2025, with plans to launch its dedicated SiC-based foundry services in the first half of 2026. SK keyfoundry’s roadmap includes expanding its process technologies for high-voltage, high-efficiency applications such as electric vehicle powertrain systems, industrial power conversion equipment, and renewable energy inverters.
To support this effort, the company is reinforcing its process optimization and reliability evaluation capabilities, while establishing a dedicated SiC development team to deliver tailored solutions for customers across various power-critical industries.
The demand for SiC and other compound semiconductors continues to surge, driven by their superior energy efficiency and performance advantages. Key growth markets include electric vehicles, energy storage systems (ESS), 5G infrastructure, and data centers. According to Omdia, the global SiC market is projected to grow at an annual rate of over 24% from 2025 through 2030, underscoring the strategic importance of this technology.
“The acquisition of SK powertech, a specialist in SiC, marked a pivotal step for SK keyfoundry in securing its own distinctive technological edge in the compound semiconductor field,” said Derek D. Lee, CEO of SK keyfoundry. “By combining the core development capabilities of both companies and launching high-efficiency SiC power semiconductor process technologies and products, SK keyfoundry aims to establish differentiated technological leadership in the rapidly growing global market for high-voltage and high-efficiency compound semiconductor applications.”
Original – SK keyfoundry
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SK keyfoundry, an 8-inch pure-play foundry in Korea, announced that it has successfully co-developed core technology and completed reliability testing of Direct RDL (Redistribution Layer) – a core semiconductor packaging technology based on 8-inch wafers – in collaboration with LB Semicon. This achievement marks a significant step forward in advancing next-generation semiconductor packaging technologies and strengthening the competitiveness of automotive semiconductor products.
RDL refers to metal wiring and insulating layers on top of semiconductor chips to enable electrical connections. It is primarily used in WLP (Wafer Level Packaging) and FOWLP (Fan-Out Wafer Level Packaging) processes to enhance connectivity between the chip and the substrate while minimizing signal interference. The newly co-developed Direct RDL by SK keyfoundry and LB Semicon supports power semiconductors with high current capacity, outperforming competitors. The technology achieves a metal wiring thickness of up to 15 μm and wiring density covering up to 70% of the chip area – making it suitable not only for mobile and industrial applications but also for automotive use. In particular, the solution meets the Auto Grade 1 classification under AEC-Q100 international automotive semiconductor quality standard, ensuring reliable operation in harsh environments with an operating temperature range of –40℃ to +125℃. Unlike competitors, this makes the technology fully viable for automotive products. In addition, by providing a Design Guide and Process Development Kit, SK keyfoundry can now offer a process solution tailored to customer needs, enabling smaller chip sizes, lower power consumption, and cost-effective packaging.
Semiconductor packaging and testing specialist LB Semicon stated that leveraging SK keyfoundry’s deep understanding of semiconductor processes and advanced manufacturing capabilities significantly shortened the development timeline. Through the integration of its own back-end processing technologies with SK keyfoundry’s foundry process expertise, the two companies successfully achieved optimized wafer-level Direct RDL formation, which is expected to greatly enhance production efficiency.
LB Semicon’s CEO Namseog Kim commented, “The joint development of direct RDL has served as an important milestone in strengthening the technological competitiveness of SK keyfoundry and LB Semicon.” He also added, “Through close collaboration between the two companies, we plan to establish a strong foothold in the next-generation semiconductor packaging market, built on high reliability.”
“The joint development with LB Semicon, the semiconductor packaging specialist, holds significant meaning as it demonstrates the successful integration of our company’s advanced and comprehensive manufacturing expertise into cutting-edge semiconductor packaging process development,” said Derek D. Lee, CEO of SK keyfoundry. “SK keyfoundry will continuously collaborate with LB Semicon, a leading company in semiconductor technology, to further evolve and position ourselves as a premier foundry with proven capabilities in delivering high-performance and high-reliability semiconductor solutions to the global market.”
Original – SK keyfoundry
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Key Foundry announced that it has changed its corporate name to SK keyfoundry. The new name was recently approved by the shareholder, which went into effect starting January 1, 2024. SK keyfoundry completed the submission of applications to register a trademark at the end of last year in Korea and certain foreign countries.
SK keyfoundry, an 8-inch foundry which had been spun off from Magnachip Semiconductor in September 2020, became a subsidiary of SK hynix in August 2022. Post the acquisition by SK hynix, the company has pushed ahead with a name change together with the post-merger integration (PMI) and finally decided SK keyfoundry as its new name considering the business continuity with the existing customers. SK keyfoundry expects to gain a momentum in expanding its business by taking this name change as an opportunity to improve its reputation both domestically and internationally.
Headquartered in Cheongju, SK keyfoundry has a fab with the capacity of producing approximately 100,000 wafers per month, conducting a foundry business to mostly produce mixed-signal & analog chips, including Display Driver IC (DDI), Micro Controller Unit (MCU) and 8-inch wafer-based power IC, which is suitable for small quantity production of diverse products.
In particular, recently, there is a growing demand for 100V or higher BCD (Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) in the power IC market to achieve high speed electric power delivery and high power efficiency. As a leading foundry in HV BCD process, SK keyfoundry has been actively striving to position itself in the global market of power ICs for automotive and industrial. In addition, for the continuity of supplying power ICs, SK keyfoundry has also started developing the process development of Gallium Nitride (GaN), which is considered to be the next-generation power semiconductor device and is also actively reviewing the development of Silicon Carbide (SiC).
In the meantime, SK keyfoundry has designated 2024 as a year to begin the “deep change” to accomplish innovative growth and change and in connection with it, it recently carried out the reorganization of internal organizational structure. The ultimate goals are to secure new customers by improving our sales networks in the U.S and China and to accomplish high customer satisfaction by providing differentiated foundry process development and improving the quality of our products.
“Name change will instill a sense of belonging as a member of SK Group and serve as a driving force to evolve our company into a strong and agile one,” said Derek D. Lee, CEO of SK keyfoundry. “SK keyfoundry will work hard to gain more ground in the 8-inch foundry market by actively engaging in the market of power ICs for automotive.”
Original – SK keyfoundry
