The encyclopedia · Engineering & Operations · Technical decision · 2025–2026
Hanmi's TC bonder became the must-pass gate of HBM, holding 71% of the market
Hanmi Semiconductor's thermo-compression bonder stacks DRAM dies for HBM; it owns 71.2% of that equipment market and customers queue for machines.
Hanmi Semiconductor (한미반도체)
The solution
Hanmi Semiconductor, a Korean equipment maker, dominates the thermo-compression (TC) bonder — the machine that stacks DRAM dies vertically to build HBM, the memory behind AI accelerators. TechInsights put its global revenue share at 71.2%, with SK hynix and Micron queuing for equipment.
The bonder applies heat and pressure so each die is firmly joined without shifting; without it a next-generation AI chip line cannot start. Hanmi's average selling price rose 30–40% for HBM4-generation machines, which require new equipment rather than retrofits.
In 2025 Hanmi posted record revenue of 576.7 billion won; analysts expect about 758 billion won in 2026 sales and 369.4 billion in operating profit. It is investing 100 billion won in a factory for next-generation hybrid bonders while Samsung evaluates its machines.
Why it worked
- TC bonding is the unskippable step in every HBM line.
- HBM demand is exploding with AI chips, and each generation needs new machines.
- 71% share makes the supplier the pricing and schedule authority.
- Early hybrid-bonder investment hedges the next process transition.
What can be applied
In a process-driven industry, the supplier who masters the single hardest, unskippable step captures the bottleneck's value — deepen that one step rather than broadening the product line.
Aftermath
Hanmi is widening its lead with a Wide TC Bonder in late 2026 and a second-generation hybrid bonder prototype, plus a 100-billion-won cleanroom factory in Incheon. Hanwha Semitec is chasing, but industry watchers expect Hanmi's bottleneck position to hold until hybrid bonding goes mainstream around 2029–2030.
Sources
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