South Korean factories began shutting down lithography machines

On August 25, due to the lack of demand in the semiconductor market, TSMC was recently reported to stop a part of the EUV lithography machine, similar to the semiconductor factory in South Korea, lithography machines and other equipment should also be shut down, and the operating rate is only about half.

According to reports, South Korean chip company DB Hitek's current capacity utilization rate is only 73.83%, which is more than 23% lower than the 97.68% in the same period last year.

Their capacity utilization rate is still high, Samsung Semiconductor, Key Foundry capacity utilization rate is even lower, only between 40-50%, have to perform thermal shutdown maintenance of lithography machines and other equipment.

Semiconductor factories are usually 24 hours of uninterrupted production, the so-called thermal shutdown is not to say that the power is completely off, but the non-power operation, do not let the machine over the goods, and ultimately do not produce products, but the equipment is not completely stopped.

If it is completely shut down, and then start again when the demand increases, it is necessary to start debugging and other work again, which is very complicated.

In addition to the hot shutdown to reduce costs, South Korean chip factories are also like TSMC, UMC, the world Advanced price to attract customers, foundries have reduced 8-inch wafer services by about 10%, and the price of some foundry services has fallen as high as 20%.