South Korean tech giant LG Electronics Inc. is developing hybrid bonder equipment that is essential for the production of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), industry sources said on Sunday.

The strategy is to establish competitiveness in the high-value semiconductor equipment market as demand for HBM surges thanks to the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI).

The development is being led by LG Electronics’ Production engineering Research Institute (PRI), which developed and sold semiconductor substrate packaging and testing equipment, with the target timeline for mass production set for 2028, sources said.

A hybrid bonder is a piece of equipment that stacks and bonds multiple semiconductor chips vertically. Unlike the conventional thermos-compression (TC) method, it connects chips directly without using bumps between them, enabling reduced overall chip thickness and lower heat generation.

As this technology is not commercialized yet, LG believes that a successful development would allow it to secure an early lead in the market. HBM, in particular, features a multi-layered DRAM structure which makes hybrid bonding a critical process.

LG also plans to expand its portfolio of semiconductor packaging technologies through this project.

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