LG Innotek : Makes First Investment in FC-BGA Business

LG InnotekLG Innotek (CEO Cheoldong Jeong) announced at a board meeting on the February 22nd that it had decided to invest KRW 413 billion in 'Flip-Chip Ball Grid Array (FC-BGA) manufacturing facilities.

This is LG Innotek's first investment in the FC-BGA business, which will be used to build a FC-BGA production line. Starting with this investment, the company will continue investing in the technology in phases.

FC-BGA is a semiconductor package substrate that connects a semiconductor chip to the main-board. FC-BGA is used in CPUs and GPUs for computers, servers, and network devices. The de-mand for FC-BGA has rapidly grown due to the improvement in chipset performance and the spread of the work-from-home culture. Yet, the number of companies producing FC-BGA is limited, causing shortage in supply.

LG Innotek chose FC-BGA as its future growth engine and formed two executive-level divisions for it (FC-BGA Business Division and FC-BGA Development Division) last December.

The company plans to advance into the FC-BGA market leveraging its leading-edge package sub-strate technology and business competence.

LG Innotek is leading the communication package substrate market with 5G mmWave Antenna-in-Packages (AiPs) and Radio Frequency System-in-Packages (RF-SiPs). The company has acquired unrivaled substrate technologies through years of experience in AiP and SiP product development, and will use them for the FC-BGA business as well. LG Innotek also holds a dominant position in the market for Flip-Chip Chip-Scale Packages (FC-CSPs), which are used in high-performance mobile application processors (APs).

LG Innotek's strategy in FC-BGA business is to use its technologies for ultra-fine circuit drawing, highly-integrated & multi-layered substrate lamination (laying up multiple substrate layers precisely and evenly), and coreless substrate packaging (removing the core layer of a package substrate). The company has gained competitive edge in these technologies through the past 40 years of its sub-strate business.

Kildong (Kenny) Son, Head of the Substrate & Material Business Unit, said, "LG Innotek will foster FC-BGA as the future growth driver, leveraging our globally-renowned competence in the package substrate business." He also added, "And we will innovate customer experience and raise customer values by expanding our business from mobile devices to servers/computers, network devices, digi-tal TVs, and cars."