Chang-rock Song, Head of CIS Business, has been with SK hynix for more than 20 years and seems to have a firm grasp on confidence. Although he has the difficult task of improving the foundations of SK hynix’s CIS business, he truly believes that the team’s current efforts will lead to future success.

Making Waves in the CIS Market: The Future Bread and Butter of the Semiconductor Industry

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A CMOS Image Sensor, or Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Image Sensor—commonly referred to as CIS—is a semiconductor that converts the color and brightness of light received through a lens into electrical signals, which are then transmitted to processing devices. Acting as the increasingly important “eyes” in IT devices, such as smartphones, means CIS-related markets are experiencing rapid growth. According to a June 2021 Gartner report, the CIS market is expected to grow from USD 19.9 billion to USD 26.3 billion before 2026, or roughly 7.3% annually.
Comparatively, the overall semiconductor and semiconductor memory markets are expected to achieve 4.0% and 4.1% annual growth respectively.

“CIS is not a replacement for the human eye, but an improvement as far as its ability to expand upon its features. In the future, CIS will be utilized beyond mobile technology in security, robotics, automotive, and AR/VR industries. I’m confident that the CIS business will be a pillar of SK hynix’s growth along with DRAM and NAND flash,” Song said.

He went on to describe why CIS fits nicely within SK hynix’s product portfolio.

“As the semiconductor memory market grows and new technologies are developed, new fabs are built and the adoption of new processes and equipment follows suit. Unused assets and retired technologies generated as a product of this growth can be repurposed for CIS production. This is because there is a lower level of scaling required for CIS compared to memory but the manufacturing process and equipment are similar. Additionally, CIS business plays an important role as a foothold for SK hynix to expand deeper into the non-memory market.”

Currently, Sony and Samsung Electronics lead the CIS market with about 80% market share based on sales, while SK hynix, OmniVision, and GalaxyCore compete over the remaining 20%.

SK hynix has faced some challenges expanding its market share, due to its late entry into the high-end CIS market.

“At first, customers doubted if SK hynix could run a CIS business, but now we are recognized as a major supplier of low-pixel areas below 13MP (megapixel). To expand into the high-pixel market of 32MP or higher, we are strengthening our R&D capabilities and are striving to achieve increased productivity. In addition, SK hynix has secured Pixel Shrink technology which determines CIS reliability and provides us with a great advantage. We have accumulated know-how regarding cell scaling from our work in the DRAM field and possess proven equipment already in use on the production line. By comparison, our competitors must go through several additional steps, delaying their advancement while we optimize unique time-saving methods.”

SK hynix secured a meaningful global market share in CIS and has now set the goal of joining the list of industry leaders.

To achieve such a goal, Song pointed out that defining product portfolios and achieving competitiveness in regard to development are prerequisites. He emphasized that “we need to release our product line-up at the same time as our competitors with the same level of quality.”

Song believes that the market will dramatically change in the near future and is putting significant effort into preparing for it.

“Pixel size in analog CIS cannot be continuously reduced in the same way as DRAM. When the limit is reached, new innovations are needed in peripheral technologies, as opposed to process technologies. In the future, CIS will not just be a visual sensor but will evolve into an information sensor and intelligence sensor. As a result, the competitive paradigm will also change. Meanwhile, the existing technology gap will become meaningless and market share will be reorganized. Our top priority is to be a leader in this upcoming match.”

A Hero of Innovation: Writing Another Success Story for SK hynix

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Song joined the memory lab at SK hynix (previously Hyundai Electronics) in 1999 after getting his Doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering. He contributed to increasing yield rates by spearheading process innovation for DRAM production and leading R&D. From 2017 to 2020, he guided company-wide efforts towards processes and system innovation as a CIO (Chief Information Officer) and ushered in DX (Digital Transformation). Currently, Song is responsible for SK hynix’s CIS business and strives to improve its foundations ahead of future opportunities.

How was it possible to create continued success in such an arduous industry? Song cited SK hynix’s special “DNA” as the means to overcoming challenges.

“It is in the ‘DNA’ of SK hynix team members to be passionate and overcome difficulties together as well as being innovative and reasonable. We learned a lot from our seniors who strived to rebuild the company following the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s and the global financial crisis in the late 2000s. So, we always keep in mind that we need to leave a better system and a strong heritage behind for the younger generation.”

As SK hynix’s CIS business is still relatively new, Song is designing fresh ways to awaken the passion in his team members’ “DNA” and understands that the business still needs to be supplemented in terms of overall systems and work processes.

First, he restructured the CIS team and changed the way individuals work together. After uncovering inefficient work processes, Song aimed to improve productivity and minimize the burden of unnecessary communications. He also increased the adoption of business automation and intelligence by promoting DX.

“To efficiently increase the amount of work one person can handle, simple repetitive tasks and paperwork should be completed by digital systems. To implement such processes, protocols should be in place from the time of product development through to mass production. Therefore, we actively introduced IT systems such as an internal messenger and an internal blog as well as a project management system. By utilizing these systems, we are setting strong operation standards for our CIS team members.

Once the promised protocol is mounted on the system, the work is automatically delivered to the next person without any meeting or reporting procedure. When one phase is over, teams can move immediately to the next. Team members can focus on finding their own ways to efficiently perform using VWBE (Voluntarily, Willingly Brain Engagement) rather than preparing for meetings or finalizing reports. As a result, the competitiveness of our CIS business can be continually enhanced as productivity per person improves.”

A ‘Warmhearted Leader’ Helping Team Members Find Happiness by Innovating the Way They Work

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Song’s concept of “innovating the way you work” is closely related to team members’ happiness. He understands that team members feel happiest when “there aren’t any troubles at work, and everything is going smoothly.” To make this possible, he points out that thorough proactive management is necessary.

“When work proceeds smoothly, team members are much happier. Thanks to confirmed protocols and simple communication between coworkers, team members are likely to spread their happiness around—sometimes even to their family if they feel inspired at work. Employees should be able to earn happiness at work, not just money.

To make businesses run smoothly, corporate pre-management, or “continuous care for team members”, is needed. The opposite of happiness is indifference, not sadness. Employee happiness increases when organizations show they care. It is important employers make changes that lead to a more positive working environment that inspires their teams.”

When asked what kind of leader he is, Song said he strives to be a “leader who feels confident in delegating.”

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“I try to delegate more duties to the team members. Otherwise, junior team members cannot grow as their work becomes limited to including only the things that they are deemed good at. That being said, senior team members like myself still need to take responsibility for the result even though our juniors will be accountable. In taking this approach, each team member can perform self-leadership, meaning that they can make decisions on behalf of the team.“

Finally, he shared the following important keywords as key takeaways for his team (listed in priority): safety, ethics, security, quality, yield rate, and productivity.

The post [Thought Leadership] Innovating for the CIS Surge: Chang-rock Song, Head of CIS Business first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

“Complete Memory Solutions” With Precise Packaging and Strict Testing

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P&T stands for package and test, one of the back-end procedures of the broader semiconductor production process. During this process, wafers completed in the front-end procedure are packaged before delivery to the customers and the products go through the final test to ensure that the quality meets customer expectations. Even if a high level of quality is secured at the wafer level, there can be errors or defects depending on different customer settings. That’s why the process of completing wafers as a product and enhancing the reliability by taking into account the different circumstances of each customer is just as important as the one for product development and mass-production in fabs.

“Fab and P&T are deeply related. None of these two is less important to complete the best quality and meet customer expectations. We pay a lot of attention on communication with the fab to proactively respond to any possible issues. That is critical to faithfully fulfill the common goal of securing the utmost manufacturing competitiveness.”

One of the top priorities for the P&T team is securing technological capabilities that the market requires to boost the value of memory products.
P&T’s role was critical for SK hynix to preoccupy the market for the high-bandwidth memory (HBM), or the fastest memory available. Only those with advanced technologies and mass-production capabilities can preoccupy the market given the structure of the market. SK hynix became one of the pioneers in the market by demonstrating its capability to mass-produce HBM2E in 2019 and took over the premium memory market by initiating mass-production in full scale in July 2020.

Since the launch of the world’s first HBM in 2013, the company has made various attempts to improve product performance. This was possible thanks to P&T’s commitment for quality improvement through the innovative Wafer Level Package¹ technology.

“As for the HBM3’s next generation, we aim to differentiate from others in the area of high-capacity products by enhancing the speed and stacking technology. We’re particularly keen to develop equipment, special materials and process technology for this.”

Other than the cutting-edge technologies like HBM, the P&T is also continuing development of the “conventional packaging technology,” or capability to stack as many dies as possible within a package.

“Changes are gaining speed, while customers want even higher technologies over time. In one example, the NAND capacity for the latest flagship smartphones is around 256-512 gigabytes (GB), but likely to increase to 1-2 terabytes (TB) on the same density for the next-generation models. Our goal is to cut the height of a single die to below 30㎛, while increasing the number of layers, currently at eight, to 16-32 for technology competitiveness.”

With customer demands diversifying, the proportion of customized memory is increasing as well, making it more important to secure the capability to thoroughly test even the smallest specifications.

As the company accelerates its efforts to boost environmental, social and governance values as part of the broader SK Group’s “Financial Story” campaign aimed at boosting the total corporate value, Hong is also looking at ways to run the P&T manufacturing in line with the ESG management.

“For environment, we’re seeking to shift to eco-friendly materials and components, while reducing energy consumption and minimizing pollutant emissions. For example, we could save costs and reduce waste by improving the equipment for chip-making processes to replace some chemicals with eco-friendly materials. We are looking forward to finding more ways to create both economic and social values at the same time ahead.”

Leading the Way to Success

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Since joining what’s formerly known as Hyundai Electronics Industries in 1986, Hong has gone through both exciting and discouraging moments of the company and now, as SK hynix thrives as one of the best semiconductor companies in the world, he is full of emotions.

“I am so grateful and relieved. We’ve come through some real difficult times such as the 1997-98 Asia financial crisis, restructuring by creditors and the 2008 global financial crisis. But look what we’ve achieved now. We’re a leading chipmaker in the world and worth over 100 trillion won in the stock market. I hope we continue to prosper, leaving all the troubles we’ve had in the past behind.”

“As one of the early members of SK hynix, I’m full of pride and confidence, but also feel heavy responsibility. Look at all the challenges we’re facing ahead. In the times of digital transformation of the 4th industrial revolution, we should successfully develop DRAM with sub- 10 nanometer (nm) level and NAND stacking technology further to beyond 600 layers as well as creating social values in the energy and environment fields.”

Innovate the Way of Working

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One of the key goals for P&T this year will be to improve cost competitiveness, remove inefficiencies and bring innovation to the way of working through digital transformation and put the quality of the materials and components under control.

Over the longer term, Hong aims to further maximize the efficiency of the operation with a strategy for global integration should the process of the planned acquisition of Intel’s NAND and SSD business be complete.
Hong believes that digital transformation will accelerate establishment of Smart Factory that quickly reflects customer needs and responds to rapid changes in the industry.

“It is very important to secure the capability to effectively deal with enormous amount of data collected by P&T and build the corporate culture of making decisions based on data.”

With the portion of the younger generation in 20s-30s growing across the P&T, making his department one of the youngest parts of the company, Hong is also making various attempts to narrow potential generation gap among colleagues.

“I think providing the sense of security that you won’t be treated unfairly simply over expression of your opinion is key to communications. It’s particularly important for the younger generation as they are relatively clearer when it comes to expressions and preferences.”

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“Quality” is the keyword that Hong wants to ensure that every stakeholder bears in mind.

“I’ve spent most of my time at work on improving product quality and it’s now all about what I am. Quality of the P&T, the very final stage of the semiconductor production process, leads to that of our customers’ products. For this reason, nothing can be more important than constantly improving the quality to me.

¹Wafer Level Package (WLP) technology: Unlike the conventional method of cutting chips from wafers and packaging them individually, this technology allows wafers to undergo packaging and testing process as a whole before chips are cut, resulting in better performance of the products.

The post [Top TL] P&T Enhances the Value of Memory Solutions: Sang Hoo Hong, Head of P&T first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

Kwak also showed his vibrant energy throughout the interview. As a person in charge of an organization that continues to grow day by day, he answered all questions with clear and detailed words. His answer to the last year’s achievements was filled with his pride, and his answer to this year’s plan showed his solid confidence in the bright future of SK hynix.

Production Management Expert Responsible for the SK hynix’s “Yield”

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The most important indicator in semiconductor production is “yield¹,” a factor that has a great influence on profitability. As semiconductor processes are becoming finer and more complicated, managing the yield above a certain level is becoming very difficult. Also, if the yield cannot be raised during the ramp-up process, productivity and quality competitiveness are decreased, no matter how great the developed technology is. While leading the organization in charge of manufacturing and technology, Kwak is playing a key role in managing the “yield” that determines SK hynix’s product competitiveness.

“Most of the SK hynix’s assets are in the fabs. When we can make good use of them, a high level of yield can be achieved. In that sense, the sum of the company’s fab technologies can be defined as the ‘yield’. Therefore, raising this yield to the Best in Class (BIC) level is also a goal that Manufacturing Technology at SK hynix is pursuing all the way.”

“Last year, we’ve seen many unexpected variables because of the COVID-19 crisis. Nevertheless, we’ve solved problems occurring in the supply chain through emergency responses, such as diversifying supply routes and shortening the set-up period of the equipment.

During this process, we’ve reorganized the roadmap for emergency response and prepared a personal manual, by assuming all imaginable crises. Through this, even in the case of a bigger crisis in the future, we are able to respond systematically with the scenarios prepared in advance. This was all possible because of great cooperation from all our members. I’d like to express my gratitude once again for the dedication and sacrifice made by them.”

These efforts have led to the strengthened product competitiveness, raising SK hynix’s status in the market to the next level. Even in the midst of small and big crises, main indicators have improved greatly. The key yield indicators of DRAM and NAND, which had been somewhat weak early last year, have improved significantly in the second half. Also, the mass-production quality of NAND in addition to DRAM, which had already been highly evaluated in the market, has shown a remarkable improvement. As a result, the market and customer evaluations of SK hynix’s products have risen sharply.

“Previously, when the market situation was good, the fab capacity was lacking, resulting in insufficient yield. When the yield was satisfied, however, the market situation worsened again, which made things very difficult. However, this year is different. The market is expected to recover and the new plant M16 will be operated as well. Also, in the existing M15, phase 2 can also be opened when necessary according to the market situation. We should make good use of this great opportunity. I can feel my heart beating with excitement.”

To continue this atmosphere full of promises, Kwak decided this year’s vision of Manufacturing Technology as “SUPEX mass-production technology! Value creation! Happiness together!”. To realize this vision, he presented a new goal of establishing two mid- to long-term plans based on VWBE² covering three years respectively (first plan: current – 2023; second plan: 2024 – 2026) to secure a firm No.1 competitiveness in six years.

“SK hynix’s technology can be largely divided into development-related technology and mass-production-related technology, and Manufacturing Technology is in charge of the latter. What we need to pursue is to reach ‘Super Excellent (SUPEX)’ in the aspect of mass-production technology. Only when that is achieved as a prerequisite, many values such as economic value (EV) and social value (SV) can be created in the future.

I think, in three years, we will be able to approach our highest goal of ‘No.1 competitiveness’, and if we work hard with a goal of another three years from then, we will be able to solidify such competitiveness. We’ve set this goal in the sense of securing an actual and firm No.1 competitiveness, rather than following an unclear slogan.”

Preparation for the post-COVID-19 era is also in progress smoothly. Although the spread of COVID-19 has not stopped yet, there are hopeful predictions that it will start to slow down soon due to the vaccination. In this circumstance, Kwak emphasized the necessity of the efforts to prepare for the future one step ahead.

“To respond to the upcoming opportunities in the post-COVID-19 era, we, Manufacturing Technology at SK hynix, thought that we should not only contribute to the management by producing next-generation products in a timely and competitive manner, but also focus more on strengthening the fundamentals, such as lowering the cost of the products currently being produced.

We need to improve the level of completion in mass-production by collaborating with the development sector. Also, in terms of cost reduction, we need to increase the yield and optimize costs. To achieve this, we will continue to make efforts in the future, such as raising the equipment matching level and establishing a real-time inspection system through automation.”

A Success Planner Designing the Future of the “World’s Best SK hynix”

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Recently, the semiconductor market has been seeing rapid changes and increasingly diversified needs of customers. SK hynix is actively pursuing digital transformation (DT) and changing the way of working to effectively respond to these market changes. The Manufacturing Technology organization has also been working on reorganizing the working environment through continuous innovation since last year. Achieving significant improvement in terms of yield and product quality was also a fruitful result of such efforts.

“Last year was the time for us to make some efforts for reorganizing the working environment. We mainly focused on removing irrational elements and establishing a future direction. For this, we simplified some indicators that unnecessarily overburden the work, providing an environment where employees can fully focus on their own work.”

The Manufacturing Technology organization is the core of the DT pursued by SK hynix. This is because fabs are where the most data is generated within the company. Even at this moment, an enormous amount of data is pouring out from different types of equipment every 0.1 second or less. Kwak said, “The ability to deal with this enormous amount of data determines the company’s ability. The DT level of Manufacturing Technology is directly linked to the quality and yield of the company’s products.”

“In fact, all our members have been carrying out the DT very well. Propelling efficiency in office work allowed us to do much more work in less time. Although the production process is becoming more complicated and demanding, the yield is not just maintained at a certain level, but rather is rising. This is all because the ability to analyze and utilize data in great depth is being secured. It is also because the understanding of the DT is increasing and the capability to leverage it is being accumulated.

We are now focusing on advancing the DT in various ways. We are operating a wide range of exclusive organizations in charge of artificial intelligence (AI) solution, data architecture, and data science and we are also in close collaboration with the DT organization. Also, through collaboration with Gauss Labs (Related article: Interview with Young-Han Kim, CEO of Gauss Labs: “To Overcome Challenges in Manufacturing Industry through AI”), we are realizing aspects of a ‘smart fab’ that will be completed by SK hynix in the future, one by one.”

Kwak, who is improving the structure of Manufacturing Technology through continuous innovation, objectively diagnosed SK hynix’s current status in the industry and shared the thoughts he had, to become the world’s best in all indicators.

“The employees’ capabilities are among the best in the world. They always deliver great results that exceed expectations. Once a goal is set, they show a great sense of responsibility and courage to achieve it with tenacity. Behind this, there is self-sacrifice. This is a virtue that must be respected enough.

There is one more thing I want to add here. The insight. To secure the best status continuously in the semiconductor industry, where fierce global competition is taking place, it is necessary to pursue the attitude of a pioneer who creates something from nothing. The more we approach the No.1 in the industry, the more we should have the insight to think hard and find answers.”

Kwak also emphasized that the company should put more effort into cultivating its human resources to allow the employees to have these capabilities.

“Semiconductor industry is called the equipment industry, but the subject who handles the equipment is people. To make full use of the equipment, the company should invest in people as much as it invests in equipment. No matter how great the equipment is and how good the environment is, the company’s values and capabilities are determined by securing human resources capable of operating the equipment in that environment. To maintain the top position, we need to pay a lot of attention to develop human resources and make efforts.”

In fact, Kwak has been recently making many changes to cultivate human resources within the Manufacturing Technology organization. He first reorganized the training system for each department and then established a standardized training system. The curriculum range has also been extended to include more in-depth content. Last year, “The Self-Improvement Week (SIW)” was also launched. SIW is the time provided by the company during working hours to allow employees to use that time for self-development. A separate space for SIW was also prepared.

“The Manufacturing Technology organization has a fixed delivery date and everything it does is displayed in numbers. I am well aware that the burden that members feel during carrying out their work is great because of this. As the company was growing rapidly, there were also difficulties in having to be put into the field immediately after joining the company. In this kind of work environment, human resources tended to be developed mainly through work. Of course, there are a lot of things they can learn through the work, but the lack of a system was something to be improved.

To improve this aspect, we plan to implement a strategy to secure human resources sooner than when the fab size increases in the entire master plan, provide sufficient training time, and put them into the field. Also, we are trying to secure enough time for employees to focus on their work and to use part of that time for self-development. I am planning to expand the SIW, if the results are good.”

A Leader Who Works in Harmony with Members to Achieve “Field-oriented Management”

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Since joining the company, Kwak has experienced various sectors at SK hynix including the R&D field and production sites. In particular, he made countless achievements in the process of developing micro-processing as a development researcher. Since 2015, he has been in charge of manufacturing sites in earnest and continuing his successful career as a production management expert. What was his secret for having been able to follow such a solid career path? To this question, he cited “passion for work” and “trust relationship with members”.

“I tend to have a lot of passion for work. If there is a delivery deadline and a certain level of quality to be reached, I try hard to achieve 120%, rather than 100%. Since all achievements should be made with the members, a solid trust relationship with them is very important. This is because the members can voluntarily utilize their capabilities to the fullest only when the trust relationship is acting as a basis. I am always grateful to our members who trust each other and collaborate together.”

He advised juniors to “have a wide perspective”. This is also the attitude that Kwak always keeps in mind when working.

“It is very important to take a step further from just doing your own job and see the whole flow. One must be able to work organically by understanding the related work or colleagues’ work. In fact, there is no boundary between jobs at companies with great performance. People who can break down boundaries at any time and work beyond those boundaries, and an organization made up of those people will be able to continue to develop.”

What’s also important as a leader is to listen to the voices of the members by increasing the points for communication. Kwak also emphasizes the importance of communication and tries to communicate with members whenever possible. Last year, however, there were not many opportunities to communicate with the members due to COVID-19. It will be possible only when the situation improves, but he hopes to have some time regularly to meet with members and communicate freely this year.

“One time, a member asked me to talk together when I didn’t have much time, so I just listened to what the member was saying. I couldn’t give any solutions to that concern, but that person thanked me later just for listening, which made me very surprised. It was the moment when I realized that communication is not just about giving answers and that the process of listening, thinking together, and sharing thoughts is important. Now, even if I can’t give an answer, I try to listen to the members’ voices as much as possible.”

The Manufacturing Technology is considered as an organization that is creating social value (SV) most actively in SK hynix. Last year, the organization discovered around 1,000 cases of SV creation and it plans to take efforts more actively to create SV this year.

“The Manufacturing Technology members have strong organizational power, so they move in perfect order once a goal is set, with great teamwork. I think that this kind of organizational culture has highly contributed to the good results last year. This year, we plan to expand the foothold so that more members can actively participate in SV creation. I plan to conduct related training for team leader level members and make efforts to spread awareness among members. The goal of this year is to make it a habit for all members to consider SV in the process of work, rather than to focus on the number of cases for SV creation. I believe if we achieve this goal, good results will naturally follow.

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As he is the first Top TL interviewee this year, the newsroom team asked him for a New Year greeting for the members.

“I wish all members and their families a great year of good health and happiness. I hope that all members will grow and develop together with the company and have a year full of happiness.”

¹ Ratio of the number of good products to the number of finished products
² VWBE: Voluntarily, willingly, brain engagement

The post Head of Manufacturing Technology Noh Jung Kwak: “To Prepare the Future with No.1 Manufacturing Competitiveness” first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

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SK hynix’s DRAM business has been evaluated as a driving force that has led the company’s rapid growth in recent years and as a key business representing the company. Although SK hynix’s DRAM business ranks second in sales and global market share, it is fiercely competing for the No.1 position in terms of product quality and technology. The key organization leading this high level of technology is the DRAM Development organization. This organization is in charge of developing core products and various derivative products for each technology state and commercializing them through internal certification and customer certification within a given time.

As the Head of the organization responsible for an important duty, Seon Yong Cha of DRAM Development is walking toward the future step by step with confidence, instead of being overwhelmed.

“We always try hard to be the best, but we are staying in second place in terms of scale in reality. If we secure the ‘best technology’, our overall competitiveness including scale will increase, so we are thinking hard to figure out how we can take the ‘first place in technology’.”

As effort comes with achievements, SK hynix is continuing its growth this year, focusing on high-density memory and HBM2E.

“As its name suggests, high-density memory has high density, which means that it must have both good quality and yield for the high density. SK hynix has secured sufficient competitiveness, as well as an impressive market share. In particular, among DRAM products, the quality of server DRAM is the most important, and SK hynix maintains a high share of the overall server products including high-density memory. (1st place with 40% of market share in the first half of 2020, according to market research institute Omdia)

HBM2E products are also leading the market. Both quality and performance are currently recognized by customers, and we expect to continue this trend in the future. Also, we are giving shape to plans to strengthen the competitiveness of mobile and graphic related products.”

Cha also expressed his anticipation for the automotive business. Although SK hynix’s market share in the automotive semiconductor field is not yet high, he expected that meaningful results can be achieved if the company uses its long-accumulated know-how for memory semiconductor technology.

“In the semiconductor business, competitiveness in the automotive sector is crucial. This is because the quality requirements for products in this sector are very high. The automotive business is expected to upgrade SK hynix’s overall product quality and production system. If this business is well established, it can serve as leverage for the quality of all other DRAM products. In addition, it will open a new path for the DRAM business as a premium product lineup.”

Regarding the business situation in the second half of this year, some forecast that “the company’s performance will be in a bearish trend, as customers’ DRAM inventory is piled up”. On the contrary, others expect that “the performance will improve next year due to shortages in supply”. Also, the recent global business environment which became more volatile suggests that there are more things to consider in business.

“To respond to changes in the business environment, we are working to establish a solid cooperative relationship with our customers. Although many different variables are affecting the business, as the demand for memory semiconductor continues, we will do our best not to miss out a market we can target.”

Semiconductor industry is a typical “cycle industry” where boom and bust repeat. Because the industry is also sensitive to external variables, it is necessary to constantly monitor the global situation and market conditions to respond proactively. One of the important tasks is to reduce the impact of the industry situation and external variables and lay the foundation for operating the business stably. Cha is currently preparing for this as well.

“When considering the nature of the semiconductor industry, securing cost competitiveness means the strength to withstand changes in the external market environment. Recently, a task force (TF) to secure cost competitiveness was formed to establish a plan. We are working on many action plans to secure the competitiveness for No.1.”

“Limits Exist to be Overcome”: Cha as an Analytical Strategist

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As some say that the technology gap within the leading group of the DRAM business has almost disappeared, it is most important for SK hynix to solidify its technological leadership as a company belongs to the leading group. In terms of securing core technology, SK hynix has achieved some great results by introducing the concept of “platform”, starting from 1xnm (first-generation 10 nm-class products). Platform means developing a technological system that can be applied for a long time to many generations, instead of developing a technology that can be applied only to one generation.

“Adopting the platform concept has the advantage of reducing trial and error when developing the next generation of technology that shares the same platform, even though it costs for investment when the initial platform changes. Thanks to this advantage, we were able to successfully and efficiently develop various products from 1xnm (first-generation 10nm-class products) to 1ynm (second-generation 10nm-class products), then to 1znm (third-generation 10nm-class products).”

The next step after securing the core technology is to apply this technology to multiple products of the same generation to secure competitiveness in the performance aspects of each product, such as power, speed, quality, and high density. While this process by SK hynix has not been entirely satisfactory, Cha was confident that it is now changing.

“Since this year, we have subdivided the product performance into eight areas. We have established and are pursuing plans for each area to secure the competitiveness necessary for each area. The technology level for each performance area might be relatively different from each other, but we aim to pursue the highest level of technical competitiveness in all areas within the next few years.”

It is getting more difficult to continue Moore’s Law¹ in the semiconductor industry. There is also a prospect that the limit of the miniaturization of DRAM is approaching in the industry. Nevertheless, Cha expressed his firm determination to overcome the limits with tenacity, rather than preventing the possibility of development due to the “limits”.

“I don’t want to describe it as a ‘limit’. In the past, there were times when people thought 100nm was the limit, and then 20nm was considered to be the limit. Nevertheless, overcoming the limit every time is the process of DRAM development until today. The current difficulties are also barriers to be overcome, which means that we have not reached the limit. I believe that innovative technologies will soon be developed to break through the barrier which is currently considered as a limit.”

The structure of the semiconductor industry is also changing rapidly. While PC manufacturers were the main customers in the past, various types of IT companies such as mobile companies and internet data center operators are newly included in the customer group, diversifying the requirements.

In addition, the recent semiconductor industry is showing a wide range of change, and there is a prospect that a complete change can be made in the future, not only in terms of the environment of competition, but also the competitors themselves. Cha emphasized the necessity of identifying this rapidly changing trend of the semiconductor industry and responding quickly.

“In the past, when new technology was developed, the profits were made by reducing the cost of core products which has a high proportion in sales. Now, however, it is more like making profits through using the premium by securing a wide range of lineups of derivative products that will meet the different needs of customers. In fact, the share of derivative products in DRAM sales has grown significantly compared to several years ago.

In more and more cases, customers are demanding customized memory products, so it is not enough to make a good product according to the defined specifications. The process of planning products that customers need and commercializing them has become more important. It is time to preemptively establish a system to respond to these changes in the market.

In fact, there are risks in the customized memory business. This is because if the commercialization plan falls through during the development process, you will have to bear as much damage as the resource used. Nevertheless, I think we should keep trying. Whatever changes are made to the market, the key is the customer. In the future, the business should proceed in the direction of improving customer value, even if it carries some risks.”

If such change keeps accelerating, it is expected that more driving force will be given to the establishment of a “product-oriented system” that SK hynix is currently focusing on. DRAM Development is also preparing the system in line with this trend.

“The product-oriented system is a concept that started with a question, ‘how will we reflect the customer needs that are becoming more diverse, from the product level to secure competitiveness?’. In the past, when a core technology’s level was raised, you could just use that technology to make most of your products. In recent years, however, the importance of derivative products has increased, so different and a lot of element technologies are now required for each product. Also, it is necessary to prepare the element technologies in advance. For this reason, from this year, we are establishing and following a roadmap that determines the element technologies needed for each product and defines schedules for development and verification.”

The diversification of customers also means that collaboration with customers has become important. Due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak, however, communication with customers is not easy. What kind of efforts is SK hynix making for smooth customer relationship, in this changing environment?

“As customers’ systems become more complex and sophisticated, the process of evaluating and analyzing data at the time when our products were mounted on the customer system, and finding and solving defects in advance is becoming more important. In particular, in the post-COVID-19 era when the ‘contactless’ environment will be generalized, it is also necessary to prepare a customer communication system suitable for this.

To realize this, SK hynix is establishing a system that allows real-time online testing and analysis, without having to dispatch engineers to the field. We will continue to think more about strengthening collaboration with our customers in the future.”

A Warm-hearted Mentor for Members

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Since taking charge of DRAM Development, Cha has been putting a lot of effort into improving the organizational culture. One of the representative cases is that he streamlined the internal certification process after a technology is developed, and this reduced the stress of the employees caused by various issues.

Internal product certification is one of the core tasks of DRAM Development. This is a very important task to keep the delivery schedule promised with customers. It takes over a month for one internal certification process, and if it fails, it needs more time and effort, which means more stress for employees. Cha thought that it is necessary to increase the success rate for certification first to improve work efficiency.

“First, what I suggested as a goal was to significantly increase the success rate of the first certification. To achieve this, I asked Process Integration (PI) to work to dramatically increase the wafer yield in the first test. Also, Product Engineering (PE) worked to reinforce the pre-test quality inspection system. Product Management Office (PMO) responsible for organizing the overall certification, materials, and development process, has been reinforced with stronger authority, so that the entire development process can be managed more thoroughly. Thanks to these efforts, the certification success rate this year has improved significantly.”

In the second half of this year, he focused on creating a new vision for DRAM Development from the perspective of the employees, and shared it with them recently. The new vision is “Experts group who continuously grow through No.1 brand products”. It shows his hope that the members feel proud of making “No.1 brand products”.

“Visions we’ve seen so far were more about the organization. It was a way to set the future orientation of the organization, not members, and to think about how to achieve that goal; however, as it is difficult to identify the organization with the individual members, I thought, ‘Will the members feel thrilled with this kind of vision?’

What I was trying to do this time was to create a vision that makes the members’ hearts beat. I shared the vision with the members, but it hasn’t been completed yet. I’d like to continue to communicate with the members to create a vision that can be shared with everyone.”

Cha enjoys meeting and chatting with the members. He often meets in small groups of four to five people and listens to them. This is because it allows him to understand other members and find various ways to support them. It is not as often as before due to COVID-19, but he plans to increase contact points with the members in the future.

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Lastly, the newsroom team asked Cha to define himself, as one of leaders at SK hynix.

“I want to become a leader who put the head together to get an answer with the members. Rather than being a difficult leader asking for a well-organized report on the solution when a problem arises, I’d like to be a friendly leader who can think of ideas together and solve the problem together.”

¹Moore’s Law: Moore’s law is the observation that the density of microchips doubles every 24 months.

The post “Dreaming of the Best DRAM”, Toward the No.1 in Technology: Head of DRAM Development Seon Yong Cha first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

“Control Tower” That Leads Quality Improvement and Problem Resolution

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“Currently, SK hynix’s solution business is approximately at the world’s fourth place in terms of market share, but I think its development competitiveness is showing a rapid increase. As the competitiveness of the solution business has been strengthened thanks to the 128-layer 4D NAND, it is expected that SK hynix will step up to the global top tier level in the solution business in the near future, as well as its NAND business.”

“SK hynix develops and provides products for customers at the global top level in the field of high-performance mobile solutions, such as UFS 3.1² and uMCP 3.1³. It is also rapidly gaining competitiveness in the SSD field, which has been relatively challenging for us. For great performance in the solution business, it is important to secure sufficient product lineups to provide a variety of products according to customers’ demand in a timely manner, rather than focusing on one or two specific products. SK hynix has already established full portfolios that customers want in the mobile and client SSD fields. By next year, SK hynix is expected to have the same level of portfolio lineups as its leading competitors in the enterprise SSD field.”

Ahn also mentioned the nature of the NAND & Solution business nowadays. He is working to enhance the capabilities of Solution Development, especially in the perspective of the “overall optimization.

“The essence of the NAND business is to deliver value to customers, which means to help customers keep their data for a long time at a very low cost, with no compromise in quality. To achieve this, customers’ data should eventually be contained in the form of a solution product, which is a mobile solution such as SSD Solution or UFS. In such products, various components such as a controller⁴, a firmware⁵, and active and passive elements are mounted, as well as a NAND. In this regard, the essence of the NAND & Solution business is overall optimization.”

He also emphasized Solution Development should play the role as a “control tower” for the NAND solution. This control tower should be able to coordinate the whole aspects.

“For solution products, a wide range of aspects should be considered, such as components, aligned technologies, securing product performance and quality that customers want, and price. For this reason, someone has to play the role in coordinating from development to mass production for continuous customer satisfaction. As Solution Development plays a leading role in the entire process from designing various elements such as NANDs, controllers, active/passive elements, PCBs, and modules to customer certification and mass production defect resolution, it should take a role of a “control tower” in the technology aspect.

With regard to this, what I emphasize to the members is the ‘sense of ownership’. When looking for the cause in the case of a fault or performance deterioration, it’s often unclear to determine which organization caused such problem. At such times, members of Solution Development should take the lead in understanding the real cause and solving the problem, rather than focusing on identifying the responsible organization. That way, other organizations will be able to develop flawless solution products with us.”

At the same time, to survive in the fierce market competition, he emphasized the innovation speed faster than competitors.

“Competition is the inevitable fate of a company. In a rapidly changing environment, we can’t outperform our competitors simply by running faster than we did in the past. What’s more important is outpacing them in the relative speed. A correct direction is crucial as well.”

To speed up the innovation, Ahn has re-established organizations of Solution Development. First, the Innovation team was established. The role of the Product Management Office (PMO), which is a control tower organization within Solution Development, has also been strengthened. From this year, PMO has been presenting standards for how each organization should work and leading cooperation based on the sense of ownership.

Also, the Product Engineering (PE) team has been strengthened to improve the verification capabilities. This shows the intention to make a balance between development and verification, whilst development has been the main focus thus far. PE team is reinforcing its role of driving each development organization and preemptively reducing defects to secure a certain level of product completeness, regardless of the internal certification. Along with this, it is contributing to enhancing the technology level in the mass production process by dispatching engineers to collaborative organizations.

Going beyond the Customers’ Expectations: The Right Person for a Big Leap forward to “Customized Solution”

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Ahn believes that the next three to four years will be the most important period in this business. With this belief, he is paying attention to strengthen the basics. Especially, the area he is focusing on the most is securing and fostering human resources with professional capabilities.

“This is the time when customers and product lineups are expanding. In this circumstance, the most important thing to achieve the best performance and quality ahead of competitors is to secure professional competence. To realize this, we are committing ourselves to fostering top-level experts in the fields of System on Chip (SoC), firmware and verification, by expanding the Expert and Architect systems within Solution Development.”

An expert means a person who has a comprehensive knowledge in a particular area. An architect is a person with a high level of technical competence beyond experts, as well as a sufficient understanding not only in one particular area but also in other adjacent fields. It is also a maestro who can determine the direction and goal of development.

To become an architect, expertise in at least three areas is required, as well as a profound understanding of customers. Currently, Solution Development has two architects in the firmware field. Ahn is expecting that new architects in the SoC filed will be produced within this year. Ahn’s goal is to produce at least ten architects in the next three to four years.

“Even though additional architects are newly produced this year, this might not guarantee a significant and immediate contribution to the development. However, within three to four years, the development direction will be decided based on the know-how of these architects. When the development direction becomes clearer and the competencies are put together, the value created from this will be astronomical. We are currently improving systems and expanding related education to secure architects who will play a crucial role.”

“We can’t really say that customers’ evaluation of our products was all great last year. There have also been some instances of persistent problems with some products. In this process, we’ve learned many lessons. Since then, we’ve devoted ourselves to restoring customer trust by establishing policies that prioritize quality and dispatching our engineers to major overseas markets. As a result, as of the end of June this year, quality evaluation of the mobile solutions in the first half of this year by global customers, especially those in China, has recorded the top level in the industry. SSDs are well evaluated by customers as well. To get to this point, Quality & Reliability Assurance (QRA) and Global Sales & Marketing (GSM) have provided a lot of assistance. We’ll continue to work hard to maintain the highest quality in the future.”

Due to the spread of COVID-19 this year, voices of concern are being heard from inside and outside; SK hynix, however, is turning the crisis into an opportunity by supplying products in a timely manner. The Company is also preparing the post-COVID-19 era as well.

“The recent market contraction was caused by the COVID-19 issue, but also by the industry itself. The semiconductor memory industry is cycle-based, repeating a boom and bust cycle. I believe that if we can secure customer trust by developing industry-leading products even in times of recession, we’ll be able to make a bigger leap forward in the upcoming periods of prosperity.

In the meantime, even if the COVID-19 situation is resolved in some way in terms of disease management, the current “contactless” environment is expected to continue in the future. We will focus on grasping the changes in customers and market environment to proactively develop appropriate technologies and products, responding to our market by making preparatory actions with GSM.”

CEO Seok-hee Lee has recently mentioned that the NAND and Solution businesses should play a big role to enhance SK hynix’s market value. In response to this, Ahn presented detailed execution plans.

“There are two ways to enhance market value. One is to expand sales by increasing investment, and the other is to show growth potential to the market. We’re paying attention to the latter. One typical example is Tesla, which achieved the highest market capitalization in the automobile industry despite the relatively modest sales.

We’re currently thinking of three major execution plans. The first is to dramatically increase the growth rate of the business to show the market that we have tremendous growth potential. The second is to let the industry know in various ways that the capabilities of the human resources responsible for the SK hynix’s NAND & Solution business are rapidly growing. The last is to expand our status in the contactless environment. In other words, it is about strengthening technological competitiveness for the future through the ‘select and concentration’ strategy. By implementing these three methods efficiently, we’ll continue to increase market value to achieve our goals.”

The First Penguin who Supports the Personal Growth of Employees

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During his career, Ahn has often moved to different departments. Starting as a process engineer, he went through the Corporate Strategy & Planning and Innovation Task Force (TF), and built his career in the NAND & Solution field. He has been dispatched to SK Telecom, and he was once in charge of establishing artificial intelligence (AI) strategies at the Future Technology & AI. How was he able to achieve great results in all of these different fields? He mentioned “listening and learning” as his strengths.

“The reason why I could be well adapted anywhere was that I listened to the members carefully. Employees at SK hynix put their heart and soul in each position. If you are a leader, what you have to do is to provide an environment where hard-working members can work more efficiently and effectively.

You also need to pay attention to personal growth, and one way to achieve this is giving them a chance to learn. For example, I took a short MBA course when I joined the planning organization after working as an engineer, and I took a ten-week AI training course when I started AI-related work in 2019. Learning things every time I come across a new field is becoming something enjoyable. I think that sharing my experiences with the members and my efforts for assisting their growth aroused sympathy from the members, making it possible for me to reach where I am now.”

He defined himself as a “first penguin”. First penguin means a penguin that stands at the front of a group of penguins as they move between ice floes to check for hazards such as seals and broken ice.

“A leader should take the initiative and set an example. Especially, Solution Development members have a variety of careers and expertise, so only at the expense of more experienced leaders can they win their hearts. In addition, a leader should be meticulous and precise. As the range of work is very wide, there’s no time to check one thing multiple times. That’s also the reason why all members should faithfully play their own role in each area and check until the end to ensure that there are no problems in terms of completeness or quality of development.”

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In particular, Solution Development is a young organization with great diversity. Ahn is spending a lot of time to think of a way to enhance work efficiency by making the most of this organizational characteristic.

“Understanding each other is important. Bringing out 100% of the competencies of the members is up to the leader. What I emphasize to leaders is to spend a lot of time understanding the competencies of their members accurately and figuring out which momentum can bring out the best results.

Also, I try hard to give work to the right person whenever possible. Whatever the work is, if you give the work to the right person, it is resolved perfectly in less time. If the time earned by doing this is used for developing competencies of the members, the overall performance will be steadily and significantly improved.”

¹NAND Solution: A storage product mounted on IT devices such as SSD and UFS for storing data. Equipped with a NAND-based system semiconductor that can process data such as a controller, it features high stability and fast processing speeds.
²UFS: Universal Flash Storage. A next-generation memory card. A NAND flash solution used in mobile devices.
³uMCP: UFS-Based Multi-Chip Package. A semiconductor in the form of a single chip manufactured by combining multiple types of semiconductors based on UFS.
⁴Controller: System semiconductor that processes data by controlling the NAND installed in the Solution
⁵Firmware: A micro program which controls hardware stored in a Read-Only Memory (ROM).

The post Ceaseless Effort of NAND Solution to Boost Corporate Value of SK hynix: Interviewing Hyun Ahn, Head of Solution Development first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

Accomplished Designer for SK hynix NAND Business

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In recent years, SK hynix has been putting a lot of efforts into the NAND sector, with rising expectations that there will be great achievements in the near future. Choi is confident that SK hynix will meet such expectations starting this year.

“When the 128-layer 4D NAND technology is applied to major production lines, the status of SK hynix’s NAND business will change. Next-generation NAND technology is also being developed smoothly. Once these goals are achieved, we can surely enter the global top tier level among global NAND suppliers.”

Developing technology for the first time in the world is definitely not a coincidence. Such achievements symbolize that SK hynix’s unique working system has already reached a very high level, and human resources at SK hynix possess a world-class competency.

Choi predicted that SK hynix will rapidly evolve and become one of the top tier global NAND suppliers over the next few years. This was not based on some groundless confidence. SK hynix has already developed the world’s first 128-layer 4D NAND technology, securing a technology advantage differentiated from its competitors.

“SK hynix has demonstrated that its NAND technology prowess reached the highest level in the world by developing the world’s first 128-layer 4D NAND technology. SK hynix is committing itself to strengthen its position as the No.1 in the industry, not in terms of the scale, but in terms of technological power.”

Actually, the industry predicts SK hynix’s NAND business will turn a profit in the early stages, increasing SK hynix’s corporate value eventually.

“The main reason behind the profitability improvement is the increased proportion of the cost-competitve products. This year, the 96-layer products are playing a key role in sales and operating profit, and the transition from 72-layer to 96-layer is rapidly taking place. The yield has already exceeded 90%, and the future is bright as well. We are currently expanding customer certification with the 128-layer 4D NAND. As the proportion of this product increases, the product portfolio will also improve.”

While many indicators were positive, negative issues also occurred due to the spread of COVID-19 at the beginning of this year. The market situation worsened, hindering the development of NAND flash; however, SK hynix has turned the crisis into an “opportunity” by ensuring internal stability while minimizing the effect of COVID-19.

“It is true that some global supply chains were disrupted by COVID-19, but we ramped up the production of 128-layer 4D NANDs by warehousing equipment one step ahead and increasing the operating rate of existing equipment. As a result, we could secure the equipment operating rate of 128-layer products higher than that of the existing products.

We also established a system to prevent accidents at the production line. We are planning to fortify internal stability this year as the 128-layer products are under the preparation stage. Based on these efforts, we expect to supply products in an even more stable way than we have done so far, when the COVID-19 situation calms down.”

“Father of 128-layer 4D NANDs”

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Choi had built his career for a long time working to develop next-generation semiconductor. In 2017, he served as Head of NAND Device Technology Group at R&D. From the following year, as the Head of 128-layer 4D NAND Task Force (TF) , he led the development and presented the title of the “world’s first” to the SK hynix’s NAND business.

Choi was also confident and proud about SK hynix’s unique corporate culture.

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“SK hynix has a strong culture of caring for others, which allows you to look around, rather than just looking infront. Of course, it is important to be the best alone, but when you become the best while caring for others at the same time, the value becomes much greater.”

Based on this philosophy, Choi suggested “Best Quality, First NAND” as the vision of NAND Development organization this year. This vision implies that with great quality secured, SK hynix can become a top tier company in the global NAND market.

Choi also made a careful effort for securing the motivative power to achieve this goal. This year, SK hynix established a product-oriented system for all employees including CEO, and is reorganizing the role, responsibility, and the way of working of each organization in order to guarantee high quality, as well as the overall optimization of the Company. Amid these changes, NAND Development organization was reorganized too.

“Until now, both the internal and external communication have been managed by one organization, which hindered the efficient operation of human resources. To reform this, NAND Application Engineering (AE) Team and Product Engineering (PE) Team were newly established last year. NAND AE Team is responsible for external communication where the team accommodates the needs of customers promptly to provide customized products on time. On the other hand, NAND PE Team is responsible for internal communication which is necessary for a smooth collaboration with Solution Part. We also reinforced our workforce for this newly established double-team reform.”

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At the end of the interview, we asked Choi to express himself as “one of the leaders at SK hynix”.

“As one of the colleagues, I want to support the continuous growth of others. However as a leader, I’d like to be a ‘game-changer’. I’d like to shake the game and continue innovation, transforming the flow of the NAND market where SK hynix leads.”

The post Challenge for Global Top Tier NAND Supplier : Interviewing Jung Dal Choi, Head of NAND Development first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.