Phoenix upgrades factory for Samsung chips deal

Listed Phoenix Semiconductor Philippines Corp. (PSPC) has completed the installation of new DDR4 technology-compliant manufacturing lines in its plant in the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga following the renewal of its strategic partnership with Samsung Electronics Ltd.

“We are pleased by the fresh vote of confidence by Samsung on the company which deepens our relationship with them and puts our production processes at par with the most advanced in the world,” PSPC President Byeongchun Lee said.

Samsung, the world’s largest manufacturer of branded semiconductor memory products, tapped PSPC as its preferred semiconductor assembly and test (SAT) partner to mass-produce dynamic random access modules (DRAM).

In terms of production capacity, PSPC’s new in-line DDR4 equipment is designed to manufacture 38 million DRAMs a month, which is a 73-percent increase in manufacturing efficiency.

Lee said that PSPC has put online Samsung’s consigned equipment worth $4.13 million, which enabled the full ramp-up of assembly and packaging of Samsung branded next-generation DRAM dual in-line memory modules (DIMM) and flip chips (FC).

The equipment is one-of-a-kind, high technology first generation in-line machines in the country.

Test production of DDR4 began in the fourth quarter of 2015.

With the new FC equipment coming on line in the first quarter of 2016, it recorded production of 18 million DDR4 memory components, with plans to increase this number to 17 million in July.

PSPC is one of the country’s top semiconductor products manufacturers and exporters with specialization in solid state memory devices.

It shipped out $325 million worth of semiconductors in the first quarter of 2016.