SK Hynix exiting image sensor buisness after being in the buisness since 2008

[nghanayem]

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It is crazy how rapidly SK went from steady growth to rapid market share erosion.


The trend of memory makers having CIS divisions was always peculiar to me. Samsung and the Japanese make sense due to them having large consumer electronics divisions. But Hynix and Micron (before they spun out Aptina anyway) having CIS businesses never made sense to me. My understanding was that CIS process technology is closer to logic than memory. But maybe my perspection is due to Tower and TSMC having thriving CIS offerings. Maybe the pixel part of the process is similar to EPROMs? Anyone who works in memory or CIS please feel free to educate me, because why memory makers all seemed to have CIS divisions at one point or another always perplexed me.

 

[Paul2]

Freely available to read news item:

TechInsights Platform

The authoritative information platform to the semiconductor industry.

library.techinsights.com

It is crazy how rapidly SK went from steady growth to rapid market share erosion.


The trend of memory makers having CIS divisions was always peculiar to me. Samsung and the Japanese make sense due to them having large consumer electronics divisions. But Hynix and Micron (before they spun out Aptina anyway) having CIS businesses never made sense to me. My understanding was that CIS process technology is closer to logic than memory. But maybe my perspection is due to Tower and TSMC having thriving CIS offerings. Maybe the pixel part of the process is similar to EPROMs? Anyone who works in memory or CIS please feel free to educate me, because why memory makers all seemed to have CIS divisions at one point or another always perplexed me.

Were they the actual manufacturer for their sensors?

 

[nghanayem]

Were they the actual manufacturer for their sensors?

My understanding is yes.

 

[MKWVentures]

Freely available to read news item:

TechInsights Platform

The authoritative information platform to the semiconductor industry.

library.techinsights.com

It is crazy how rapidly SK went from steady growth to rapid market share erosion.


The trend of memory makers having CIS divisions was always peculiar to me. Samsung and the Japanese make sense due to them having large consumer electronics divisions. But Hynix and Micron (before they spun out Aptina anyway) having CIS businesses never made sense to me. My understanding was that CIS process technology is closer to logic than memory. But maybe my perspection is due to Tower and TSMC having thriving CIS offerings. Maybe the pixel part of the process is similar to EPROMs? Anyone who works in memory or CIS please feel free to educate me, because why memory makers all seemed to have CIS divisions at one point or another always perplexed me.

We looked at it when I was in memory fabs. The theory was that it is a good reuse for memory equipment (mainly lithography). But like everything, you have to be good at it and efficient at it....