SK hynix Unveils iHBM Cooling Tech, Tapping Existing Process for Mass Production

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an 'AI-based personalized news recommendation and summary service' developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items by reader type.

1. SK hynix Unveils Heat-Beating Technology, Cementing HBM Throne

- Key Summary: SK hynix unveiled its 'iHBM' technology, which embeds an Integrated Cooling Element (ICE) based on a high-thermal-conductivity silicon material inside the HBM package. By reducing thermal resistance by more than 30% compared with existing HBM, the technology is expected to enable stable operation even in environments consuming up to 230 kW per rack, such as Nvidia's next-generation AI accelerators Rubin Ultra and Feynman. Because it leverages the existing MR-MUF-based packaging process, mass production can begin immediately from HBM5 without new equipment, while maintaining high compatibility with customers' existing SiP designs. SK Group Chairman Tae-won Choi will hold consecutive meetings with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei at GTC Taipei next month, strengthening the trilateral AI chip alliance.

2. Samsung Electronics Unlocks External AI, Prepares Phased Humanoid Adoption

- Key Summary: Samsung Electronics will officially introduce external generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, to all employees in its DX Division in June. After completing a proof-of-concept (PoC) covering 2,500 employees in April and May, the company has built a control system granting access only to those who complete security training. AI will be deployed across company-wide tasks, including market trend analysis, multilingual communication, and customer data analysis, alongside a large-scale project to convert all global production bases into AI autonomous factories by 2030. Preparations are also under way to build future-oriented factories integrating operating bots, logistics bots, and assembly bots, as well as for the phased deployment of humanoid manufacturing robots.

3. Unusual High Exchange Rate Despite Stock Rally… "Lower Potential Growth Than U.S. Drives Bond Outflows"

- Key Summary: Even with the KOSPI breaking the 8,000 mark and a record quarterly current account surplus of $85 billion, the won-dollar exchange rate stayed above 1,500 won for seven consecutive trading days, dragging the won's real effective exchange rate index to 85.06, its lowest level since March 2009. Geopolitical risks in the Middle East and dollar conversion demand from foreign equity rebalancing acted as short-term factors, but structurally, the surge in overseas investment by domestic economic players and the exit of foreigners from the bond market are cited as bigger drivers. Choi Jae-won, a professor at Seoul National University, stressed, "The impact of capital not flowing into the bond market, which is far larger than the equity market, is much greater." Experts diagnose that maintaining fiscal soundness and recovering potential growth are the fundamental solutions, rather than stopgap measures such as foreign exchange market intervention.

4. "Mass Producing 1.4nm-Class Chips With Tau's Law"… Huawei Bets Big Against U.S. Sanctions

- Key Summary: Huawei has declared it will achieve 1.4nm-class transistor density by 2031 by applying a 'logic folding' architecture and the tau (τ) scaling law without EUV equipment. Compared with TSMC's (2028) and Samsung Electronics' (2029) mass production plans, the goal is to narrow the gap to two to three years, although yield, heat, and power issues remain as challenges. China is accelerating self-reliance across the entire supply chain of materials, equipment, design, and manufacturing, including stable production of advanced photoresists and a 35% domestic localization rate for core equipment. With Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledging that "the Chinese market has been ceded to Huawei," analysts say the impact of China's semiconductor self-reliance trend on the medium- to long-term competitive landscape for Korean companies bears watching.

5. Keep Working After Retirement… Plan to Utilize 7.09 Million Seniors to Be Announced Next Month

- Key Summary: The government will announce measures in late June to supplement the continued employment system for older workers who wish to keep working beyond the legal retirement age of 60. Reflecting the reality that workers aged 60 and over number 7.094 million, accounting for 24.5% of total employment, the policy is expected to focus on diverse forms of continued employment, including re-employment, contract work, and part-time work. With nominal GDP growth this year projected to approach 10%, Deputy Prime Minister Koo Yoon-cheol said, "The semiconductor boom driven by the AI transformation will continue at least through next year," presenting a rebound in potential growth and the launch of structural reform as key tasks of the second-half economic strategy. For companies, the utilization of skilled older workers and the redesign of wage systems are emerging as key challenges.

6. KIET: "Exports to Reach $924.4 Billion This Year, 2.5% Growth"

- Key Summary: The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) forecast Korea's real GDP growth this year at 2.5% and exports at $924.4 billion, a sharp 30.3% jump from the previous year. The analysis indicates that the boost from strong AI and semiconductor performance (+1.0 percentage point in growth) outweighed the U.S. tariff shock, with the trade surplus also projected to reach a record $219 billion. However, exports excluding semiconductors and ICT are expected to grow only 1.7%, with clear sluggishness in non-semiconductor sectors such as automobiles (tariffs and intensifying Chinese competition), oil refining (production projected to decline 21.1%), and steel and petrochemicals (oversupply). KIET President Kwon Nam-hoon stressed, "A significant portion of the strong macroeconomic indicators stems from price effects," urging that companies should not be intoxicated by record figures and should continue future-oriented investment.