À̹ÌÁö È®´ë[Photo by Yonhap]
South Korea¡¯s SK hynix Inc. has completed its acquisition of Key Foundry to enhance its foundry business nine months after signing a deal to take over a full stake in the domestic foundry firm from Magnachip Semiconductor for 575.8 billion won ($439.6 million).
The chipmaker was given a nod for its acquisition by local and Chinese antitrust agencies in the first half. SK hynix¡¯s 8-inch foundry unit SK hynix system ic CEO Lee Dong-jae is likely to head Key Foundry.
Key Foundry operates an 8-inch wafer fab and provides foundry service for 90-nanometer or higher growth products to global fables companies. Last year, it delivered 616 billion won in revenue.
With the acquisition of Key Foundry, 8-inch wafer production output can be doubled from current level. SK hynix system ic is capable of producing 80,000-100,000 units of 8-inch wafers per month, and Key Foundry about 85,000 units.
Separately, SK hynix is reviewing acquisition of British fabless semiconductor and software designer Arm under Japan¡¯s Softbank in a consortium with strategic investors to diversify its business portfolio heavily reliant on DRAM.
Revenue from memory chip sales takes up nearly 95 percent of the company¡¯s total revenue.
The world¡¯s largest memory giant Samsung Electronics Co. has also been eagerly expanding foundry for sustainability in revenue versus volatile mass-market memory.
SK hynix shares were trading 0.21 percent higher at 96,700 won in Seoul trading at 11:22 a.m. Wednesday.
By Jung You-jung and Lee Ha-yeon
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