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AI and Memory Chip Iteration: Restructuring the Value Chain of the Test Equipment Industry
The explosive growth of generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) is profoundly restructuring the value distribution across the global semiconductor industry chain. In this computing power revolution, the continuous upgrades of AI accelerator chips (GPUs/ASICs) and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) have elevated the testing phase from a traditional "quality gatekeeper" to a "strategic core for yield and cost control."
In the traditional single-chip era, the proportion of back-end testing costs in the overall Bill of Materials (BOM) of a chip typically remained in a low and relatively stable range. However, as Advanced Packaging (such as 2.5D/3D heterogeneous integration) becomes the inevitable choice to sustain Moore's Law, the economic model of chip testing has undergone a disruptive transformation.
Under the Advanced Packaging architecture, high-compute logic dies and multi-layer HBM are bonded onto a single substrate via a high-density interposer. Given the extremely high cost of such highly integrated SoCs (Systems on Chip), the traditional "post-assembly test" model faces a significant "yield asymmetry" problem.
As the core memory companion for AI chips, the introduction of HBM has further amplified the value of testing. As the number of HBM stacking layers rapidly evolves from 4 and 8 to 12 and 16, any minor failure in a single DRAM layer will lead to the scrapping of the entire HBM through the yield multiplication effect.
To address this challenge, HBM testing not only requires highly parallel wafer-level screening but also necessitates the introduction of complex algorithms such as Redundancy Allocation (RDA) to repair failed logic using spare rows and columns.
The AI server's extreme appetite for memory capacity is also driving up the total demand for test equipment. According to industry data, the DRAM capacity in AI servers is 8 times that of standard servers, and the NAND capacity is 3 times that of standard servers. This massive increase in capacity causes the test patterns and test times during the testing process to increase geometrically.
Meanwhile, the generational transition of HBM has directly driven up both testing difficulty and average selling prices. In 2024, the proportion of higher-generation HBM products (such as HBM3 and HBM3E) in shipments is expected to surge significantly from the early 45% to approximately 82%. The prices of higher-generation HBM (e.g., HBM3E at approximately $1.71/Gb) are significantly higher than those of lower-generation products (e.g., HBM2E at approximately $1.29/Gb), which has substantially increased the value of wafer test and final test equipment for higher-generation HBM.
Adapting to Market Demand Shifts: Exploring the Evolution Path of Core Technologies in High-End Test Equipment
The ultra-high integration, high power load, and high-speed interfaces of AI accelerator chips pose extremely stringent requirements on the physical limits of Automatic Test Equipment (ATE). To ensure testing accuracy and prevent chips from burning out due to overheating or voltage instability during testing, test equipment manufacturers are engaged in fierce technological competition in ultra-high power supply, predictive temperature control, and high-channel-density design.
Meanwhile, with the popularization of heterogeneous integration packaging technology, the boundaries of the chip testing process are being redefined. The deep integration of System Level Test (SLT) and Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) is becoming the core architecture for improving overall yield and reducing the defect escape rate on Advanced Packaging mass production lines:
1. The Inevitability of System Level Test (SLT) in Asynchronous Multi-Time-Domain Testing
Traditional structural ATE electrical testing offers high efficiency and precise physical fault localization capabilities. However, in heterogeneous integrated chips, multiple dies from different process nodes coexist at high density within a single package. The number of internal asynchronous interfaces has surged, creating complex interactions across power domains, clock domains, and thermal domains.
Even though the fault coverage of ATE testing has reached as high as 99.5%, during actual operation, the remaining 0.5% of undetected potential transistor leakage faults will still manifest in complex hardware-software interactions and multi-time-domain switching, leading to severe failures for end customers.
SLT has demonstrated irreplaceable value in this context. By placing the device under test (DUT) directly into a real-world end-user operating environment (e.g., loading standard operating systems, executing high-frequency read/write operations, and complex hardware interface interaction protocols), SLT can perfectly simulate the multi-physics field coupling state of the chip in Mission Mode, thereby capturing hidden faults caused by asynchronous interface interconnections, multi-time-domain jitter, and software interactions at a low cost.
Since the single-die test time for SLT is typically as long as several minutes or even tens of minutes, manufacturers adopt a highly modular, asynchronous parallel SLT Test Cell architecture. By processing DUTs independently and in parallel across hundreds of test sites, they significantly increase production throughput while ensuring test coverage.
2. Application of Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) in Physical Defect Identification for Advanced Packaging
Advanced Packaging introduces a massive number of micrometer-scale physical interconnect structures, which also brings severe mechanical and physical defect challenges. Due to the significant mismatch in the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) among various materials such as substrates, silicon wafers, and metal micro-bumps, the package will suffer from severe mechanical warpage and internal delamination after undergoing multiple thermal cycles. Meanwhile, ultra-thin silicon wafers are highly susceptible to die shift, micro-cracks, and bonding voids during high-speed placement and bonding processes.
Traditional 2D AOI can only perform planar pattern comparison and rule matching, unable to measure height-level deformations, and is prone to generating a large number of false alarms due to light reflection and noise. 3D Automated Optical Inspection (3D AOI), through structured light projection and 3D image reconstruction using multi-angle stereo cameras, can not only measure planar dimensions but also accurately quantify the height, coplanarity, and 3D topography warpage maps of critical interconnect structures such as micro-bumps and TSVs (Through-Silicon Vias), thereby effectively blocking physical failures at an early stage.
3. Closed-Loop Synergistic Technical Mechanism of SLT and AOI
The deep integration of SLT and 3D AOI is not a simple stacking of equipment. Instead, by connecting the underlying Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and SPC (Statistical Process Control) data flows, it establishes an intelligent closed-loop system of "physical topography measurement - electrical function verification - yield prediction feedback."
Intensifying Competition: How Domestic Test Equipment Companies Can Break Through
In the global semiconductor test equipment market, Teradyne and Advantest have built an extremely solid "duopoly" barrier relying on decades of technological accumulation. However, given the incremental equipment demand brought by the AI wave and the dividends of local semiconductor supply chain security, domestic test equipment and supporting handler companies are rapidly advancing high-end domestic substitution.
Currently, Teradyne and Advantest control nearly 90% of the global market share in high-end SoC testers and ultra-high-frequency memory testers. In high-end AI infrastructure and advanced process nodes (such as 3nm/2nm), their product penetration rate has almost reached saturation.
The moat of the international duopoly is not only reflected in hardware performance but also in their long-accumulated software ecosystem barriers. For example, Teradyne's IG-XL system software has been used for decades among global mainstream fabless design companies, foundries, and OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) giants, forming an extremely sticky engineer development ecosystem. For a chip design company, switching the tester platform means rewriting millions of lines of rigorously verified test programs, which entails massive hardware and software migration costs and the risk of chip development failure.
After experiencing long-term "marginal technological breakthroughs," domestic test equipment companies are now launching an assault on the core territory held by international giants through differentiated layouts and multi-dimensional technological evolution:
AccoTest, as a leader in domestic analog and mixed-signal test equipment, has achieved an extremely high rate of domestic substitution in the mid-to-low-end power device and analog IC fields. However, due to the relatively small overall scale of the analog testing niche market, its room to break through into high-end AI large-scale digital chip testing is constrained by physical mechanisms, and it urgently needs to explore directions for digital transformation.
Changchuan Technology, on the other hand, has adopted a "full-category, one-stop" high-end digital and memory breakthrough strategy. After more than ten years of in-depth technological research, Changchuan Technology has successfully developed high-performance SoC digital testers and smoothly passed the stringent certifications of leading domestic large-scale digital chip design and manufacturing companies, entering the stage of mass production and volume ramp-up.
Regarding the synergistic barrier of handlers, Changchuan Technology firmly holds the first market share in the domestic test handler market. Its product matrix covers traditional gravity and pick-and-place handlers, as well as high-end tri-temperature handlers (C series) for automotive-grade and AI chip high-thermal management, and possesses strong mass production supporting capabilities for integrated test and taping systems.
Through the synergistic sales of "large-scale digital SoC testers + high-performance tri-temperature ATC handlers," Changchuan Technology provides domestic OSATs and design companies with a seamlessly integrated one-stop turnkey system, greatly enhancing customers' ecological stickiness to domestic brands.
In the high-end memory (especially HBM testing) track, Suzhou Xince has fully inherited core memory testing technologies through the full acquisition of GSI, a South Korean high-end memory testing manufacturer. GSI's technical solutions are extremely solid in the high-end DRAM and HBM fields, with a product line fully covering extremely difficult high-frequency memory electrical tests such as HBM2/3, HBM2E, and GDDR6X. It has successfully entered the supply chains of international industry leaders such as SK Hynix and Amkor. In addition, Suzhou Xince has independently developed a high-end memory die sorting handler with extremely high industry barriers, successfully breaking the monopoly of Japan's Advantest. It has been smoothly introduced into the Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) supply chain and samples have been sent to domestic DRAM leaders such as ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), entering the stage of batch mass production validation.
In response to the current technological watershed and normalization of blockades in the global semiconductor test equipment market, domestic test equipment and system integrators should actively pursue the following key breakthrough paths:
① Strengthen the integrated product line of "large-scale digital SoC testers + ATC dynamic tri-temperature handlers" to seize the whole-station share in Advanced Packaging. The FT (Final Test) of high-compute logic chips highly relies on the real-time electro-thermal synergy between testers and handlers. Domestic manufacturers should fully leverage Changchuan Technology's market share advantage in high-end tri-temperature handlers, using handlers as a traffic entry point to bundle and promote independently developed high-end digital SoC testers. This will form a highly compatible "electrical-thermal-mechanical" integrated test workstation, taking the lead in achieving domestic substitution for high-end digital testing on the CoWoS production lines of mainstream domestic Advanced Packaging companies (such as JCET and TFME);
② Focus on the weak points of HBM KGD (Known Good Die) and TSV manufacturing to accelerate the mass production substitution of high-end memory test boards and handlers. As the core bottleneck of AI computing power, the KGD screening efficiency of HBM directly determines the supply capacity of domestic AI chips. Domestic manufacturers (such as Suzhou Xince and Jingzhida) should collaborate with core domestic DRAM wafer fabs like YMTC and CXMT, delve deep into high-bandwidth MEMS probe card interfaces, and go all out to promote customized Memory Die Sorting handlers. By leveraging their mass production experience accumulated at SK Hynix and YMTC, they can build an independent and trustworthy technological foundation in the high-frequency memory testing field.
③ Take the lead in forming deep alliances with leading silicon photonics/CPO foundries to seize the technological dividends of "overtaking on the bend." In the CPO (Co-Packaged Optics) ecosystem, since no monopolistic test system standards have been formed globally yet, this provides a precious development opportunity for domestic companies. Domestic test system integrators should actively form close development alliances with domestic silicon photonics foundries and leading optoelectronic chip design companies. By referencing the dual-sided optoelectronic test architecture and hyperspectral near-infrared light leakage analysis technology of ficonTEC WLT-D2, they can collaboratively develop high-precision dual-sided optoelectronic test stations, ultra-fast adaptive active alignment and light-seeking algorithms, and highly flexible optoelectronic probe cards with independent intellectual property rights, completing the industrial chain positioning in advance before the industry enters the final stage of CPO mass production.
Conclusion
The AI wave is driving chip testing to leap from a "quality gate" to the "core of yield and cost control." Despite the ecological barriers still existing for US and Japanese giants, domestic companies such as Changchuan Technology and Suzhou Xince are accelerating the process of domestic substitution in the high-end computing power track through integrated solutions for SoC and HBM testing.
References:
1. Teradyne Rose 8% Today. Here's Where the Stock Could Head in 2026 | TIKR.com, https://www.tikr.com/blog/teradyne-rose-8-today-heres-where-the-stock-could-head-in-2026;
2. 3. Probe in the Spotlight Enabling advanced packaging, chiplets, and heterogeneous integration - Semiconductor Wafer Test Conference, https://www.swtest.org/library/2020proc/pdf/00pm_SWTest_Untethered_Keynote_Slessor_FormFactor.pdf