Hanmi Semiconductor's homegrown MSVP to top 200 units sold this year

Hanmi Semiconductor's semiconductor package dicing equipment — once dependent on Japanese suppliers — has emerged as a new growth engine five years after the company localized its production. Sales of the Micro Saw & Vision Placement (MSVP) system are expected to exceed 200 units this year, more than doubling from a year earlier, as overseas orders continue to roll in.

Hanmi Semiconductor said Wednesday that cumulative MSVP sales from January through August had already surpassed its full-year 2025 revenue for the product. The company projects MSVP unit sales will exceed 200 this year and climb to around 350 by 2027.

The MSVP is a back-end semiconductor processing system that combines the Micro Saw — which precisely dices semiconductor packages — with the Vision Placement unit, which washes, dries, inspects, sorts and stacks the cut pieces. The equipment is used not only in DRAM, NAND flash, HBM and system semiconductor production, but also in printed circuit board and glass substrate manufacturing.

The growth story began with localizing the core dicing component. Hanmi Semiconductor launched the first generation of its Vision Placement system in 1998, but the saw unit installed in the equipment was sourced from Japan's Disco.

When a semiconductor industry boom in 2019 caused supply disruptions, the company began developing its own saw in-house and in 2021 became the first in South Korea to develop a Micro Saw for semiconductor package dicing. By localizing the dual-chuck saw that had previously relied on a Japanese supplier, Hanmi was able to integrate its own saw with the Vision Placement unit and begin shipping the combined MSVP system.

Overseas orders have followed. Hanmi Semiconductor disclosed Tuesday that it had signed a supply contract worth 7.87 billion won ($5.79 million) with the Thai unit of UTAC, a Singapore-based outsourced semiconductor assembly and test company. The contract value represents 1.37 percent of Hanmi Semiconductor's consolidated 2025 revenue. The contract runs through Dec. 31.

This is not the first deal with UTAC's Thai operation. Hanmi Semiconductor supplied about 1.56 billion won worth of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to the same entity in 2022. The company is also upgrading its product line: the latest model, the MSVP 6.0 Griffin, incorporates more than 207 patented technologies by the company's own count. The new system also features enhanced unmanned automation and productivity functions powered by AI.

Hanmi Semiconductor said the MSVP has reached the top position in the global market on the strength of its in-house Micro Saw. The company expects demand to grow further as investment in AI data centers and high-performance computing expands. It also anticipates that wider adoption of panel-level packaging — a process that packages multiple chips simultaneously on large rectangular panels rather than round wafers — will drive additional demand for related dicing and inspection equipment.

"We expect MSVP sales to keep rising in line with AI semiconductor growth," a Hanmi Semiconductor official said. "We plan to establish a US subsidiary, Hanmi USA, in October to serve local customer demand."