The company is recognized for solidifying its leadership status by successfully passing HBM quality verification and reducing TTM² to the shortest possible period. These achievements were made possible thanks to the contribution of the HBM Product Engineering (PE) department. In particular, the department’s efforts for back-end tasks, including HBM product testing, customer certification, and providing solutions at the full system level, were crucial alongside its support for product development and commercialization.

To find out more, the SK hynix Newsroom caught up with Vice President Munphil Park, head of HBM PE, to discuss the department’s role and vision.

¹High Bandwidth Memory (HBM): A high-value, high-performance product that revolutionizes data processing speeds by connecting multiple DRAM chips with through-silicon via (TSV).
²Time to market (TTM): The length of time required to develop a product from initial conception to when it is released to the market and available for sale.

HBM Leadership Through Consolidated Back-End Capabilities & Close Customer Communication

Key roles of the HBM PE department

“HBM PE brings together teams responsible for back-end tasks such as product testing and customer certification,” he said. “By concentrating all resources in a single direction, we have increased operational efficiency and created a structure that enables immediate collaboration. This has enhanced our developmental competitiveness.”

SK hynix established the HBM Business division in 2024, consolidating its related capabilities and functions across the company to strengthen its HBM competitiveness. HBM PE, a department within HBM Business, has also enhanced its expertise by incorporating multiple teams. These include the Product Engineering team, which is responsible for quality control through testing and verification of HBM products; the Application Engineering team, which evaluates products at the system level; and the Project Management team, which leads collaboration between customers and the company for timely product development and commercialization.

Park emphasizes the importance of “timeliness” as the most crucial factor in maintaining HBM leadership, “It is essential to develop products, ensure their quality, and deliver them to customers on time” he said. “The HBM PE department is committed to not only maximizing quality competitiveness but also to enhancing productivity.”

“HBM can encounter various quality issues due to the large number of stacked chips,” he stated. “Additionally, since performance needs to be comprehensively verified under various conditions, such as in an SiP³ for GPUs, the testing process inevitably takes a long time. Therefore, it is crucial to quickly validate the product and establish a high-quality testing baseline.”

“HBM PE possesses the technical expertise to swiftly identify areas for improvement and secure mass-production capabilities. For example, we successfully enhanced HBM3E through internal validation procedures and passed customer tests without any issues.”

³System-in-package (SiP): A single package integrating multiple integrated circuits and components which is able to perform all or most of the functions of an electronic system.

Park emphasizes the importance of close client communication for HBM success

Listening to customer feedback to enhance HBM quality and coordinating the schedule for new product planning and development are key responsibilities of the HBM PE department. To support these efforts, Park operates a so-called “Open Lab” for major HBM customers. This lab serves as a communication hub, enabling swift responses to the tasks at hand.

“HBM PE assigns dedicated engineers to each customer, so we can maintain close client communication,” he revealed. “We also work closely with relevant internal departments to resolve issues. While we manage the back-end aspects of tasks during the product development phase, we take pride in our role as the “front-end” team from the perspective of the customer and market. This sense of pride unites all team members, who are committed and cohesive in their efforts.”

“One-Team Culture” Boosts Organizational Growth & Drives HBM Competitiveness

Internal collaboration has been key to HBM’s development, according to Park

After working in the DRAM Design department for around 15 years, Park moved into his role in DRAM PE in 2018. Having started with just four members, the department grew to become a 70-person team in just over five years. This expansion was thanks in part to Park’s efforts in integrating his DRAM design expertise into product engineering, which brought about significant innovation.

Park, who has been recognized with four SK Management System (SKMS) Practice Awards⁴, identified HBM as the most challenging product he has worked on.

⁴SK Management System (SKMS) Practice Award: An award established to identify outstanding performance in accordance with SKMS, with the aim of promoting the spirit of SUPEX (Super Excellence) and expanding it into the company’s overall management culture.

“I remember back in 2022, when we successfully resolved the challenging HBM3 customer certification issue. It was a critical time as the customer’s product launch was imminent, and the company was also responding to the industry downturn,” he recalled. “We worked around the clock, collaborating several times a day with relevant departments to solve the problems. We didn’t stop there though, as we also secured solutions that could be applied at the customer’s system level, significantly enhancing our response capabilities.”

The achievements in HBM PE have laid the foundation for increased HBM sales and improved company performance. Park emphasized that the key to this success lies in the “one-team” culture, which values collaboration.

“Our department is based on mutual respect and trust for each team’s work, ensuring that we transparently share current issues and actively present diverse opinions based on our individual experiences and expertise,” he said. “All members work together like the planets in the universe, rotating and orbiting in their optimal paths while contributing to the harmony of the entire planetary system. I am confident that this organic system will continue to thrive for a long time.”

Park received SK Group’s 2024 SUPEX Award for his contributions to HBM’s development

In recognition of his contributions to the success of HBM, Park was awarded SK Group’s SUPEX Award⁵ in June 2024 along with SK hynix’s core technology team.

⁵SUPEX Award: As the most prestigious award within SK Group that carries the meaning “super excellent,” it recognizes members who have successfully realized innovations by not being afraid to take on new challenges.

“What makes this award so special is that it recognizes the efforts and dedication of our employees,” Park stated. “I believe that by repeating this cycle of success, ‘pride’ will eventually become part of SK hynix’s DNA and will be embodied in the company’s strength.”

Pride in Being No.1 Is Key to Next-Gen HBM Success & Future Tech Capabilities

Park discusses the roadmap for the HBM PE department

Park’s next goal is to successfully commercialize the 12-layer HBM3E followed by HBM4, the sixth-generation of HBM. “We will continue to build strong technical collaboration and trust-based relationships so that customers can clearly understand the outstanding performance and competitiveness of our products based on objective data,” he said. “In particular, we will focus on securing future back-end technologies in preparation for the new HBM era.”

“HBM is expected to evolve into a diverse range of customized products tailored to individual customers,” Park stated. “As new product design methodologies are introduced, it is expected that there will also be a shift in testing paradigms. To prepare for these changes, HBM PE will expand the relevant infrastructure by building collaborative processes with various stakeholders, and work to identify and develop talented people in this field.”

Park called for employees to embrace the company’s leadership position

In closing, Park, as head of the HBM back-end department at the world’s top HBM provider, encouraged employees to have pride in being no. 1.

“SK hynix’s recent success is by no means an accident, but the result of efforts driven by a long-term vision,” he said. “We are the ‘protagonists’ pioneering the future at the forefront of the AI era. Let’s take pride in our no. 1 ranking and continue to prepare for an even greater future.”

The post SK hynix VP Munphil Park Aims to Strengthen AI Memory Leadership Through HBM Quality Verification, Customer Certification & Collaboration first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

¹HBM: A high-value, high-performance product that revolutionizes data processing speeds by connecting multiple DRAM chips with through-silicon via (TSV).

Since developing the world’s first HBM in 2013, SK hynix has led the way in developing the next generations of the technology. In March 2024, the company became the first to mass-produce and supply HBM3E, the fifth generation of HBM which offers the industry’s highest levels of performance.

SK hynix’s leadership in this area is due to its extensive history of preparing key packaging technologies such as TSV and MR-MUF². To find out more, the SK hynix Newsroom caught up with Gyujei Lee, head of Package Product Development, to discuss the company’s technological innovations in packaging for AI memory.

²Mass Reflow-Molded Underfill (MR-MUF): A process involving injecting a liquid protective material between stacked chips, which is then hardened. Compared to the traditional method of placing film-like materials between each layer, MR-MUF is a more efficient process and more effective at heat dissipation.

Lee cites the importance of SK hynix’s innovative packaging technologies for HBM’s success

Foundation for HBM Leadership: Bold Investment in Packaging Technology and R&D

SK hynix’s core HBM packaging technologies

SK hynix applied TSV technology to the first generation of HBM, which was developed by the company as a world-first in 2013. A key technology that enables the rapid speed of HBM products, TSV involves drilling thousands of microscopic holes in a DRAM chip to connect the electrodes that vertically penetrate the holes of the chip’s upper and lower layers.

Although TSV has been touted as a next-generation technology to overcome the performance limitations of conventional memory for more than 20 years, it did not immediately emerge as a commercialized technology. The challenges of building the technical infrastructure and the uncertainty of recouping the investment prevented companies from taking the plunge. Lee described the situation as “like a bunch of kids around a big lake, waiting to see who would jump in first.”

“SK hynix was also one of the companies to hesitate in the beginning,” he recalled. “However, to prepare for the future market, we decided to secure both TSV technology, which can simultaneously enable top performance and high capacity, and WLP³ technology, which includes stacking. Therefore, we took the initiative and began active research from the early 2000s.”

³Wafer-level package (WLP): Technology that produces end products by packaging and testing a wafer all at once before the wafer is diced. It differs from the conventional packaging method of processing a wafer and dicing each chip.

As the market for high-performance graphics processing unit (GPU) computing grew in the 2010s, there was a rising need for high-bandwidth near-memory⁴ to support it. To meet this demand, SK hynix began developing a new product combining TSV and WLP technologies, ultimately leading to the creation of the first HBM. This new product was more than four times faster than GDDR5, the fastest graphics DRAM product at the time, while consuming 40% less power. Moreover, the first HBM dramatically reduced the product area through chip stacking.

⁴Near-memory: Memory that is close to the computing device (processor), allowing for faster data processing.

From MR-MUF to Advanced MR-MUF: Driving HBM Success

Although SK hynix was the first to usher in the HBM era, the company did not take the lead in the growing market until it developed the third generation of HBM, HBM2E, in 2019. This marked a turning point for the company as it was considered to have gained a clear industry advantage. However, Lee recalls the various bumps in the road to this achievement.

Lee revealed how MR-MUF was a crucial breakthrough for the company’s HBM lineup

“We succeeded in developing the first HBM, but then we needed to raise the quality and mass production capability to a level that would satisfy the market and our customers,” he said. “This led us to develop a new packaging technology that was expected to be better than the existing one in terms of stability in material application and ease of technical implementation. But unexpectedly, we encountered reliability difficulties in the early stages and had to find a new breakthrough.

“At that time, the company was also developing MR-MUF technology according to its technology roadmap. To respond promptly to customers, leaders from the relevant departments quickly analyzed technology-related data and simulation results to verify the reliability of MR-MUF, and convinced management and customers. So, the technology was able to be applied to HBM2E in a timely manner.”

Lee cites the development of MR-MUF as a key turning point for SK hynix’s HBM success story

“Thanks to the management and customers who believed in our development team, we were able to successfully bring our unique MR-MUF technology to the market,” said Lee. “This has enabled the mass production and supply of HBM2E, which offers stable levels of quality and performance.”

Due to the application of MR-MUF, HBM2E became a game-changer in the HBM market. It is therefore clear that MR-MUF played a key role in making SK hynix’s “HBM success story” possible.

Lee explains the MR-MUF technology roadmap

In 2023, SK hynix maintained its unrivaled leadership in HBM by first developing the 12-layer HBM3, followed by the development of HBM3E, the fifth generation of HBM. Lee and the development team believe these successes were largely due to the development of Advanced MR-MUF⁵, an improved version of the existing MR-MUF technology.

⁵Advanced Mass Reflow-Molded Underfill (MR-MUF): Next-generation MR-MUF technology with warpage control that can stack chips 40% thinner than previous generations of HBM products without warpage, as well as new protective materials for improved heat dissipation.

“The 12-layer HBM3 required enhanced heat dissipation performance due to the increased number of stacked chips,” he said. “In particular, it was not easy to handle the warpage issue of the thinner chips in the 12-layer HBM3 with the existing MR-MUF method.

“To overcome these limitations, we developed an Advanced MR-MUF technology that improves on the existing MR-MUF. This also led to the successful development and mass production of the world’s first 12-layer HBM3 in 2023, followed by the mass production of the world’s highest-performing HBM3E in March 2024. Moreover, Advanced MR-MUF is applied to the 12-layer HBM3E, which will be supplied to major AI companies from the second half of this year. Going forward, Advanced MR-MUF will be applied to a wider range of applications, further solidifying SK hynix’s leadership in HBM technology.

“Recently, there was a rumor in the industry that MR-MUF is difficult to implement. To overcome this, we focused on communicating to customers that MR-MUF is the optimal technology for high stacking, and eventually reaffirmed customers’ trust.”

Next-Gen Tech & Customer Partnerships Key to Custom Product Development

Lee won SK Group’s 2024 SUPEX Award for his contribution to developing HBM

For his longstanding contributions to HBM development, Lee was awarded SK Group’s highest honor, the 2024 SUPEX Award⁶, in June 2024 along with SK hynix’s core HBM technical members. Commenting on receiving the award, Lee said: “It is thanks to the efforts of many members who have worked as one team to make the product a success.”

⁶SUPEX Award: As the most prestigious award within SK Group that carries the meaning “super excellent,” it recognizes members who have successfully realized innovations by not being afraid to take on new challenges.

However, Lee said there is no room for satisfaction or complacency. For SK hynix to maintain its HBM leadership in the future, he emphasized the importance of timely development of various next-generation packaging technologies to meet the ever-increasing demand for customized products.

“Next-generation packaging technologies such as hybrid bonding⁷ have recently gained attention as a way to stack chips higher for increased performance and capacity while maintaining product thickness according to standard specifications,” he stated. “Although heat control is still a challenge due to the narrower gap between the chips, these new packaging technologies are expected to solve the issue and meet the increasingly diverse performance needs of customers.

⁷Hybrid Bonding: A technology that connects chips together directly without bumps between them. This reduces the overall thickness of the chip, enabling high-layer stacking, and is therefore being considered for HBM products with 16 layers or more. SK hynix is currently reviewing both Advanced MR-MUF and hybrid bonding technologies.

“SK hynix will continue to enhance its existing Advanced MR-MUF with excellent heat dissipation performance, while also securing new technologies.”

Lee claimed that strong customer communication will continue to be crucial for the company’s growth

Lastly, Lee emphasized that close communication and collaboration with customers is one of SK hynix’s strengths and a competitive advantage that the company should continue to strengthen in the future.

“I think the biggest driving force behind SK hynix’s dominance in the HBM market is its ability to promptly deliver high-quality products with mass production competitiveness to customers when there was actual demand,” he said. “This has been possible not only because of our technological capabilities, but also due to our continuous communication with customers.

“Our packaging development department is also quick to identify customer and stakeholder needs and incorporate them into product features. When this effort is combined with our unique culture of collaboration, I think we’ll be a powerful force in any situation. I will continue to share my motto, ‘feel together, move vigilantly’ with our employees as we prepare for the future of SK hynix packaging.”

The post SK hynix VP Gyujei Lee Targets Continued HBM Success With Next-Gen Packaging Technology first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

¹HBM3E: The fifth-generation and latest High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) product. HBM is a high-value, high-performance product that revolutionizes data processing speeds by connecting multiple DRAM chips with through-silicon via (TSV). The five generations of HBM began with the original HBM, followed by HBM2, HBM2E, HBM3, and HBM3E.

In the past two to three years, HBM has gained widespread recognition following the rise of generative AI. While this may have led to the perception that SK hynix’s HBM achievements were almost an overnight success, the company has undergone a long journey to reach its leadership position. SK hynix’s ascent to the top of the HBM industry has been driven by the unique technical expertise of its top engineers, who have dedicated more than 15 years to the research and development of HBM technology.

To find out more, the newsroom met with Vice President Myeong-jae Park, head of HBM design, to discuss the history and success story of SK hynix’s HBM technology.

From HBM’s Origins to Industry Leadership: Relentless Refinement and Perseverance

SK hynix’s HBM development history

In 2009, SK hynix foresaw an increasing demand for high-performance memory and turned its attention to TSV² technology. Four years later in December 2013, the company released the world’s first HBM based on TSV.

²Through-Silicon Via (TSV): A technology that involves drilling microscopic holes in a DRAM chip to connect the electrodes that vertically penetrate the holes of the upper and lower layers of the chip.

Despite the breakthrough, it took many years for SK hynix to be acknowledged for its HBM. In the 2010s, the computing market was not mature enough to benefit from the specifications of HBM, which was perceived as offering “unnecessarily” high speed and large capacity. This led to difficulties during the development of the second-generation HBM, HBM2, and prompted concerns about the business value of the product. Park refers to this challenging time as a period for discovering opportunities.

Park pinpointed HBM2E as a key turning point in the company’s HBM business

“In the mid-to-late 2010s, the HBM design department was openly described as somewhere off the beaten path,” he recalled. “The company was experiencing difficulties in the process of developing HBM2, and above all, the market growth was slower than expected. This situation fueled concerns about the business and pessimism throughout the industry.

“Nevertheless, we firmly believed that HBM was an opportunity to showcase SK hynix’s unique technological capabilities, and that once we developed the best products, services to utilize them would naturally emerge in the market. This conviction became the driving force behind the development of subsequent products, including HBM2E.”

Through this process, Park learned that the key to success is to achieve a first-class performance level that far surpasses the demands of customers and the market. He recalled embarking on the development of HBM2E with this steadfast determination.

“From HBM2E onwards, we set our goals far higher than external expectations and strengthened collaboration,” he revealed. “For HBM, which requires the seamless integration of complex and challenging technologies, it was particularly important to collaborate with relevant teams to solve difficult problems and enhance synergy. This approach led to significant technological advancements.

“During this period, we laid the groundwork for fundamental technologies such as MR-MUF³, HKMG⁴, and Low-K IMD⁵, as well as the design and testing technologies that form the foundation of our current capabilities.”

³Mass Reflow Molded Underfill (MR-MUF): A process involving injecting a liquid protective material between stacked chips, which is then hardened. Compared to the traditional method of placing film-like materials between each layer, MR-MUF is a more efficient process and more effective at heat dissipation. SK hynix’s advanced MR-MUF reduces the pressure applied during chip stacking and improves chip warpage control compared to the traditional process, supporting the stable mass production of HBM.
⁴High-K Metal Gate (HKMG): A next-generation process that uses a material with a high dielectric constant (K) in the insulating layer inside DRAM transistors. This prevents leakage current caused by process miniaturization and improves capacitance, the amount of charge required for data storage, enabling faster processing while reducing power consumption.
⁵Low-K Inter Metal Dielectrics (Low-K IMD): A technology that inserts materials with a low dielectric constant (K) between the internal wiring of semiconductor chip to reduce electrical interference and enhance performance.

Pioneering the HBM Renaissance With Proprietary Technology

In the early 2020s, fierce competition was predicted among memory companies for dominance of the HBM3 market. However, SK hynix defied expectations for such a battle as it soon solidified its industry leadership position through relentless technology development and investment.

Park claimed performance, quality, and market responsiveness gave SK hynix an edge for HBM

“At the time, SK hynix was not only innovating in terms of technology,” he said. “We were also continuously innovating to enhance customer relationships and quality. Eventually, we secured a significant market share with our HBM3 due to its overwhelmingly superior performance and features, and firmly established our position as the HBM market leader.”

Since then, SK hynix’s HBM success story has forged ahead unimpeded. Only four months after developing the world’s highest capacity 12-layer HBM3, the company introduced the next-generation HBM3E in August 2023, dramatically reducing the time to market.

“As competition among AI companies intensified, we had no choice but to accelerate our development of HBM,” he said. “To this end, SK hynix made efforts such as enhancing the completeness of product design and collaborating with customers from the early stages of development and mass production. As a result, we were able to start the mass production of HBM3E in March 2024, becoming the first company in the world to do so.”

Park emphasized that the secret to such success can be defined by performance, quality, and market responsiveness.

“SK hynix’s HBM boasts the industry’s highest speed and performance,” he said. “In particular, our proprietary MR-MUF technology, which was applied to our HBM products, contributed to achieving the world’s best performance by stably reducing the heat generated by high–performance processes. In addition, we were quickly able to consistently mass-produce these products to a high standard. We also offered an unrivaled level of customer responsiveness. I believe this comprehensive competitive edge has elevated our HBM3E to its status as a premier product.”

Park also underlined the key role all of SK hynix’s members played in HBM’s success, as they were dedicated to achieving continuous technological innovation as one team without ever becoming complacent.

Park cited cross-company collaboration as key to developing HBM3E

“Since HBM2E, SK hynix has consistently strived to maintain its number one position in the HBM field,” he stated. “In particular, we aimed to increase performance by 50% for each new generation while maintaining the same level of power consumption. This seemed almost impossible, but we were able to achieve it with the support of many of our departments and organizations, including Packaging and R&D.

“Additionally, when challenges arose during the development and mass production stage, the organizations with expertise in the relevant fields provided solutions. I believe that such a collaborative system made it possible to produce the world’s best-performing HBM3E.”

Park (second from the left) with the rest of the winners of SK Group’s 2024 SUPEX Award presented by SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung
(far left) and SUPEX Council Vice Chairman Chey Chang-won (far right) (Photo credit: SK Group)

Along with key technical personnel from SK hynix, Park was awarded the 2024 SUPEX Award⁶, the highest honor of SK Group, on June 5 for his contributions to the development of HBM.

⁶SUPEX Award: As the most prestigious award within SK Group that carries the meaning “super excellent,” it recognizes members who have successfully realized innovations by not being afraid to take on new challenges.

“I am deeply humbled and grateful to receive the SUPEX Award on behalf of the many members who have contributed to HBM product development,” he said. “HBM not only demonstrates SK hynix’s technological prowess but also leads the advancement of AI technology, making a significant contribution to society as a whole. Going forward, we will do our best to ensure that the company can continue to play this role.”

Next-Generation HBM: Maintaining Industry Leadership Through Innovation & Customization

Commenting on recent speculation regarding the development of HBM, Park dismissed the claims as “groundless” and reaffirmed his determination to maintain SK hynix’s competitive edge in the future. He said: “SK hynix’s HBM is the fruit of 15 years of hard work by our employees. Recently, there was an unfounded rumor that a competitor’s HBM team had transferred to SK hynix to develop the technology. This impacted the pride of our members as it disregarded the achievements made through our own efforts. SK hynix’s HBM is clearly developed using its own technology, and there was not a single person who joined the company’s HBM design organization from a competitor at that time. We now see this as a testament to our outstanding technological capabilities, which have gained such recognition that they have sparked these false rumors. We will not be affected by these claims and will continuously work hard to maintain our leadership.

“Continuous innovation is essential to maintaining and enhancing our current status,” he added. “Especially as our HBM lineup diversifies with the customization of solutions, collaboration with customers and the foundry industry will become increasingly important in the future. Amid these changes, we aim to steadily move forward, keeping pace with trends to maintain market leadership.”

Park claims SK hynix’s various AI memory technologies will create new opportunities

Wrapping up the interview, Park expressed his confidence in next-generation AI technology beyond HBM and shared his future aspirations.

“Not only HBM but also various AI memory technologies such as CXL®⁷, PIM⁸, and 3D DRAM will create new opportunities, and the company is ready to maintain its leading position in these next-generation AI memory fields,” he stated.

“In retrospect, HBM was the starting point for us to expand the company’s business into high-value-added areas. I feel both pride and a sense of responsibility. The HBM design team will continue to innovate, believing in the technology and collaborative systems we have built with our members over the years, without resting on our laurels. We will work hard to grow SK hynix into a key company leading the entire AI industry.”

⁷Compute Express Link (CXL)®: A technology that integrates the interface between memory and other devices into one to more easily expand bandwidth (data transmission path) and capacity to implement high-performance computing systems.
⁸Processing-In-Memory (PIM): Next-generation intelligent semiconductor memory that incorporates the computing functions of a processor.

The post SK hynix’s HBM Design Head Myeong-Jae Park: “Unrivalled Tech Prowess Key to Our HBM Success” first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.