Apple, LG, Valve bet on OLED microdisplays technology, invest $10 million in eMagin

TechObserver reports : Maker of OLED microdisplays eMagin is getting attention from tech giants such as Apple and LG as they bet big on VR and AR for future growth. According to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission Apple, LG and Valve have made $10 million investment in eMagin.

eMagin is New York-based company that makes microdisplays used in the military, medical and industrial fields, but it has recently turned its attention to companies building consumer headsets. "We entered into strategic agreements with multiple Tier One consumer product companies for the design and development of microdisplays for consumer head mounted devices and, together with these companies, negotiated with mass production manufacturers for higher volume production capabilities," eMagin said in its filing.

Article: LINK

The company's flagship product is a 2K display with a resolution of 2,048x2,048 pixels and a 70 percent fill factor, the percentage of each pixel that can be used to gather light. (Picture from OLED-Info LINK)

Cases Closed: Veeco, AMEC, and SGL Settle Patent Litigation

Veeco Instruments Inc., Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC), and SGL Carbon SE (SGL), today announced that they have mutually agreed to settle the pending litigation among the parties and to amicably resolve all pending disputes, including AMEC's lawsuit against Veeco before the Fujian High Court in China and Veeco's lawsuit against SGL before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Source: LEDinside LINK

GlobalFoundries to Soon Pilot 7nm and EUV Production

GlobalFoundries is pushing ahead with a plan to pilot EUV and 7nm production. We recently got a chance to sit down with the company and talk about its plans for the future.

Source: ExtremeTech LINK

SK Hynix ramps up eSSDs with 72-Layer 3D NAND Flash

SK Hynix Inc. (or 'the Company', www.skhynix.com) today announced that the Company recently completed developing an enterprise SATA Solid State Drive (or 'eSSD'). With its 72-Layer 512Gb (Gigabits) 3D NAND Flash chips, the Company is paving the way for its full-fledged entrance to the high value-added eSSD market.

 
SK Hynix combined the 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND Flash with its in-house firmware and controller to provide the maximum density of 4TB (Terabytes). SK Hynix makes the most of its 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND chips to double the biggest density of the SSD of the same size with 256Gb NAND chips.

Source: EPS News  LINK

SMIC obtains government fund for advanced 14 nm node technology development

DigiTimes reports: China-based pure-play foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) has obtained financial support from the government to accelerate the development of its 14nm and more advanced process technologies.

SMIC announced recently China's National Semiconductor Industry Investment Fund (known as the Big Fund) and Shanghai Integrated Circuit Investment Fund (SICIF) have made capital investments in subsidiary Semiconductor Manufacturing South China (SMSC), which will become a joint venture between the parties. The stake in SMSC held collectively by SMIC Shanghai and SMIC Holdings has therefore reduced to 50.1% from 100%, SMIC added.

SMSC was founded at the end of 2016 with a capital base of only US$210 million, SMIC disclosed. With the Big Fund and SICIF becoming SMSC's new shareholders, SMSC is able to expand its registered capital to US$3.5 billion, with the Big Fund and SICIF holding 27.04% and 22.86%, respectively, of the JV company.

Full article: LINK

 

This should mean a lot of ALD equipment invest for self aligned multiple pattering (SAMP) and high-k / metal gate stack, which if all goes like elsewhere should be open for a large amount of ASM International single wafer tools. In addition, Applied Materials Olympia may be in for a match in SAMP processing according to my understanding of the FEOL Logic market.  

 

 

Fab startegy from SMIC company presentation (LINK)

 

Established in 2000, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC") is one of the leading dedicated semiconductor foundries in the world and the largest and most advanced foundry in Mainland China. SMIC has the following wafer fabs (www.smics.com)

 

Shanghai: one 300mm wafer fab; one 200mm wafer fab
Beijing: two 300mm wafer fabs
Tianjin: one 200mm wafer fab
Shenzhen: one 200mm fab
Italy: one 200mm wafer fab