China's AI chip race is pushing the semiconductor bottleneck into advanced packaging and testing, where HPC, HBM, Chiplets and domestic substitution are driving a new capacity cycle.

Hanmi Semiconductor has launched FC Bonder 3.5, a new flip-chip bonding tool for AI system semiconductor packaging, as the South Korean equipment maker looks to broaden its advanced packaging business beyond TC bonders for high-bandwidth memory and supply global foundry and OSAT customers, ETNews and Yonhap reported.

South Korea's plan to push semiconductor investment beyond the greater Seoul area is taking clearer shape, with Samsung Electronics reportedly moving closer to a new chip hub in Gwangju while SK Hynix continues to weigh a site in South Jeolla Province against overseas investment options.

Samsung Group is expected to announce a domestic investment plan worth more than KRW1,000 trillion (approx. US$648 billion) on June 29, when South Korean President Lee Jae-myung chairs a public briefing at the presidential office in Seoul on what his administration is calling the country's "three mega-projects for a great leap forward," Maeil Business Newspaper reported.

SK Siltron is preparing to bring a new silicon wafer manufacturing facility online in South Korea next month. The expansion comes as AI data center investment helps lift wafer shipments, while pricing remains under pressure as capacity added during the last expansion cycle continues to weigh on the market.