Memory backend specialist Powertech Technology (PTI) is aggressively foraying into new logic IC segments such as TV SoCs and handset APs in a bid to offset loss of orders expected from Intel selling its NAND flash business to SK Hynix, according to industry sources.

PTI has zeroed in on Taiwan's top-3 IC designers MediaTek, Novatek Microelectronics and Realtek Semiconductor as potential clients for TV and handset SoCs backend services, the sources said.

The company reportedly has also secured new orders from Japan's four major logic IC vendors Sony, Panasonic, Renesas and Socionext.

But PTI declined to comment on specific clients and orders.

Demand for TV SoCs has been ramping up since the start of second-half 2020 thanks partly to increasingly friendly pricing driving up sales 4K UHD TVs, prompting TV vendor and chipmakers Novatek and Realtek to ready more inventories to meet the demand, the sources said, adding landing more backend orders from both IC designers has therefore become a major task for PIT in 2021.

PTI is also trying hard to win backend orders for mainstream handset SoCs and diverse 5G infrastructure chips with its FC-CSP and FC-BGA processes, as part of its efforts to boost revenue ratio for logic IC business to 35-40% from current level of under 30%, the sources continued.

In line with the efforts, PTI's subsidiary Greatek Electronics, focusing on wire-bonding process for lower-end logic ICs, will install 1,000-1,200 new wire bonding machines in 2021 at its new plant in Miaoli, northern Taiwan which started commercial runs early this year with over 500 wire bonders, the sources noted.

Greatek is set to see a fruitful year in 2020, as it has been busy fulfilling orders for healthcare MCUs, Wi-Fi 6 chips, transmission interface chips for next-generation game consoles, and peripheral ICs for notebooks, desktops, handsets and other consumer electronics devices.

In its core backend business, PTI has maintained close partnerships with non-Korean memory vendors including Micron, Kioxia, WD and Intel, as well as Taiwan's suppliers of niche-type memory Winbond and Naya Technology, the sources said. But the company is not expected to significantly expand its memory packaging capacity in the future, as Micron is strengthening its in-house packaging capability at its plant in central Taiwan and SK Hynix is set to take over Intel's NAND flash business in 2025, the sources said.