a mid-sized firm with global semiconductor clout: Company a world-leading supplier of chip circuits
SIMM TECH Co. is a mid-sized company specializing in the manufacture of semiconductor circuits in both memory and non-memory fields. Founded in 1987 under the name of Chungbuk Electronic Co., it is the nation's only manufacturer dedicated soley to semiconductor circuit solutions.
It was renamed SIMM TECH in 1995 to help buyers at home and abroad recognize what the company produces. Presently, the company is a leading semiconductor circuit supplier in the world.
As one of the largest makers of advanced electronic interconnect products and services, SIMM TECH has been quicker than any other maker in adapting to rapid changes in semiconductor and circuit technologies. As a result, it has grown into a global supplier of high-quality printed circuit boards (PCB) in models ranging from double-sided to fine-line multi-layer components.
Keeping pace with tech trends The company's primary product is a printed circuit board for memory semiconductors. Memory module semiconductor circuits are densely lined with rows of DRAM chips, which work as central processing units in personal computers and expand their memory capacity.
SIMM TECH produces two kinds of memory module circuits. One is a single line (SIM) module printed circuit board and the other is a dual-lined module (DIM) printed circuit board. The company is named after SIM module circuits.
The company has localized the production of the two products. It meets over 60 percent of domestic demand and exports the components as well.
Memory module PCBs are a specialty of SIMM TECH, which has updated the boards in step with technological development of memory chips from 1M DRAM to 256M DRAM. As semiconductor technology has advanced from large-scale integration (LSI) to ultra-large scale integration (ULSI), so modules are increasingly required to control the ultra-large scale memory capacity efficiently.
Furthermore, technological modification of 200 MHz of central processing unit (CPU) clock frequency to 256-mega DRAM requires circuit board makers to apply thousands of gates to ULSI's gate array. SIMM TECH has moved faster than any other PCB companies in applying such rapid improvement in semiconductor technology.
The company provides solutions for ball grid array (BGA) substrate as well as SIM and DIM circuits. BGA requires a package technology to replace the lead soldered in an array formation.
This technology requires LSI chips to be mounted on the circuit surface sealed with potting, and normally applies to over-200-pin LSI packages called PAC.
PAC has advantages over QFP in terms of size. PGA was developed at Motorola, and is applied to its mobile phones and notebook personal computers.
As the package mode of semiconductors has changed from QFP to BGA, semiconductor manufacturers have increased their demand for BGA substrates. Adapting to the technological change earlier than any other firm, SIMM TECH has mass-produced BGA substrates since 1996.
SIMM TECH was the first in the world to establish a production line exclusively for BGA. Its BGA quality is approved by market leaders, such as Conexant and Lucent Technologies. The company supplies BGAs worldwide. BGA is used in making ASIC, MPU, SRAM, disk drivers, telecom devices and mobile phones.
The company assures quality of BGA substrate through post-bonding bond-ability testing on wires, porosity testing and thermal shock testing.
Burn-in boards also are among SIMM TECH's major products. Abbreviated as BIB, the boards are used to test electronic devices and detect defects through such methods as high-temperature signals and stress voltage readings.
"The strong point of SIMM TECH lies in its ability to develop and mass-produce next-generation products earlier than any other company," said Chun Se-ho, president of the company.
"The ability comes from the 'original' technology proper only to SIMM TECH, a company specializing in the field of printed circuit boards for semiconductors. The company is striving to provide total semiconductor solutions when it comes to PCB, and is gaining credibility as such from semiconductor companies," he said.
SIMM TECH's great growth potential as a specialized PCB manufacturer also was highly evaluated by international investors. In March, it attracted $26 million from AIG. In the process of inducing the equity investment, its transparency and growth possibility was verified, he said.
Next-generation circuits SIMM TECH recently began to mass-produce circuit boards for Rambus DRAM modules, which are emerging as the next-generation memory semiconductor.
The company has got approval from Samsung Electronics for the quality of its circuit boards on which up to 12 144MB Rambus DRAMs can be mounted. Its Rambus DRAM circuit boards are supplied to domestic and foreign memory semiconductor manufacturers.
SIMM TECH is seeking to get approval from its clients for its memory module circuit boards as well, on which up to 16 144MB Rambus DRAMs can be installed.
Last month, the company began to produce about 100,000 Rambus DRAM module circuit boards, and plans to raise the monthly production to 300,000.
It has already built a mass-production line exclusive for Rambus DRAM module circuit boards, becoming the second company in the world to mass-produce the products. SIMM TECH also has become the first semiconductor package board manufacturer to make PCBs for the Rambus DRAM module.
Rambus DRAM modules have been adopted as next-generation memory modules by Intel, which dominates the world personal computer microprocessor market.
The modules are expected to replace all present PC memory modules in three or four years.
For the first time in Korea, the company began to mass-produce multi-chip modules (MCM) and chip scale packages (CSP), both non-memory products, in November last year. Its products are supplied to semiconductor manufactures at home and abroad. The buyers have approved the quality of the MCMs and CSPs produced by SIMM TECH.
Each month, the company makes about 3 million units each of CSP and MCM. In the process of developing CSP and MCM, it has secured an original technology to process a circuit board 0.1mm or thinner and drill a hole with a diameter 0.2 mm and smaller. In technological terms, its CSP and MCM boards are hailed as the next-generation semiconductor package boards.
SIMM TECH succeeded in developing CSP jointly with Anam Semiconductor Co. after a yearlong research. Few foreign PCB makers have succeeded in the mass-production of the circuit boards.
CSP is a semiconductor package reduced to the size of a single chip. It is used in memory chips of mobile phones, DRAM and camcorders.
MCM boards are PCBs used in integrating strings of semiconductors into a single package. They require more difficult processing technology than the existing Micro Ball Grid Array technology does.
SIMM TECH supplies the next-generation semiconductor package boards to leading U.S. and Japanese manufacturers of semiconductors for telecom equipment and mobile phones.
The company makes and supplies over 2 million MCMs worldwide.
Committed to quality For a continued quality improvement, the company applies statistical process control systems, along with company-wide quality enhancement campaigns such as Tab Clean and zero-defect movement at its manufacturing site. To solve seemingly minor quality problems without exception is the short cut to quality management, the company believes.
As a consequence of steady efforts to ensure high-quality circuit boards, SIMM TECH acquired ISO 9002 in 1993 from SGS in the United Kingdom. Also, it was approved by a government agency for successfully implementing the zero-defect "100 PPM" movement.
Simply put, SIMM TECH pursues the kind of quality which can literally "fully" satisfy all clients' requirements.
The company believes that quality comes from each and every employee's strong sense of job responsibility. Thus, all employees comply strictly with the quality manual of the company.
Undoubtedly, its quality standard lies in the attainment of "zero defect," and the company requires all its workers to do excellent jobs from the very beginning.
"I have faith that research and development is a seed of future profit. In the semiconductor industry, where original technology and low defect rates hold the key to competitiveness, I think that continued investment in research and development should take the top priority," Chun said.
"Through research and development, I am going to develop SIMM TECH into the world's top-class semiconductor printed circuit board maker."
High profitability SIMM TECH is the only Korean firm specializing in the manufacture of printed circuit boards for semiconductors. It supplies the products to the world's first-rate semiconductor companies, including Samsung Electronics, Micron Technology and NEC.
It is in 1993, six years after its foundation, when the company focused on semiconductor PCBs. It has since grown by leaps and bounds without a letup.
In 1998, it recorded 55.8 billion won in sales and 9.5 billion won in net profits. Its sales and profits were estimated to exceed 64 billion won and 10 billion won, respectively, last year.
Investment analysts expect SIMM TECH sales and ordinary profits to increase more than 45 percent and 102 percent this year.
In December last year, the company increased its shareholders' equity to over 124 billion won by listing its shares in the technology-laced KOSDAQ stock exchange. As a consequence, its debt-to-equity ratio has fallen from 374 percent in 1998 to a 10-percent level.
"The semiconductor industry is in a booming stage, so considering the high value-added printed circuit boards, SIMM TECH is expected to maintain a high profitability for years to come," an analyst of Daewoo Securities said.
The company expects investment in BGS division to return profit sooner or later, raising its estimated ordinary profits by 22 percent next year from 1999.
Last year, the company attracted 26 billion won in equity investment from a large U.S. insurer AIG and a corporate restructuring fund. AIG holds a 39-percent stake in the company, with 20 percent of funds.
SIMM TECH pursues a high-growth and high-profit strategy. To do so, it will strive to develop the most-advanced technology in the world, while raising production efficiency. Well-verified transparent management also boosts the company's continued growth.
Updated: 01/11/2000
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