The surge in memory semiconductor demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI) is deepening supply shortages across both advanced and legacy (older) products. As demand concentrates on cutting-edge semiconductors, memory companies are reducing the supply of older products, which in turn leads to an overall shortage across the market.

Amid this shift in the industry landscape, second- and third-tier companies such as China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), Japan’s Kioxia, and Taiwan’s Nanya Technology are benefiting, and in Korea, there is also a company enjoying this boom: Jeju Semiconductor, which specializes in legacy memory.

Jeju Semiconductor drew attention in the first quarter of this year by posting operating profit of KRW 67.1 billion, a 1,713% surge compared with the same period a year earlier. With its headquarters located on Jeju Island, the company also made a significant contribution to boosting Jeju’s exports this year. From January to May, Jeju’s export value reached USD 354.78 million (about KRW 545.8 billion), surpassing last year’s annual export total of USD 340.39 million. Semiconductors accounted for 72% of cumulative exports through May.

Jeju Semiconductor is a fabless design company without its own semiconductor manufacturing plant; it places orders with overseas foundries such as those in Taiwan for contract manufacturing and then sells the finished products. In particular, while first-tier memory companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix focus their manufacturing and sales on advanced semiconductors such as high bandwidth memory (HBM) and double data rate (DDR)5, Jeju Semiconductor is concentrating on the legacy semiconductor segment.

Its core products are NAND multi-chip packages (MCPs) and low-power (LP) DDR4, which are used in semiconductors for the Internet of Things (IoT), automobiles, and telecommunications. For DRAM products such as LPDDR4, Jeju Semiconductor outsources production to Taiwanese foundry companies based on its own designs.

For NAND flash products, the company sources wafers from domestic memory semiconductor manufacturers, then reprocesses and supplies them through packaging (assembly). Kim Sang-hoon, Executive Director in charge of management support at Jeju Semiconductor, explained, “Even back-end assembly requires technological expertise, which is why there is demand for our products.”

Jeju Semiconductor plans to target opportunities in a market where first-tier companies are phasing out DDR4 and are also reducing supplies of older DDR5 products. Kim added, “We are discussing ways to expand production of DDR4 and legacy DDR5 by utilizing the overseas plants of domestic memory companies.”

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