LG Innotek targets $700M in FC-BGA sales with ‘Dream Factory’
LG Innotek has officially unveiled its fully automated semiconductor substrate plant, dubbed the “Dream Factory,” with the goal of growing its Flip Chip Ball Grid Array (FC-BGA) business into a USD 700 million operation by 2030.
Located in Gumi, South Korea and spanning 26,000 square meters, the facility began full-scale mass production of FC-BGAs in February 2024. The company first announced its entry into the FC-BGA business in 2022 and acquired LG Electronics’ Gumi 4 Factory as part of the expansion strategy.
Designed as a smart manufacturing hub, the Dream Factory integrates AI, robotics, and digital twin technology to automate all ten steps of FC-BGA production and logistics processes. The factory features dozens of autonomous mobile robots and eliminates nearly all human contact, reducing production defects and halving failure-related costs.
According to LG Innotek, the plant generates over 100GB of production data daily, which is analysed in real time by AI to predict defects, inspect product quality, and monitor equipment. The company plans to introduce an intelligent quality management system (i-QMS) by 2026, further enhancing automation and real-time correction of quality issues.
The ramp-up period for production was reduced by nearly 50% through simulation-based optimisation using digital twins before the factory was physically built. LG Innotek is also preparing to enter the high-end server FC-BGA market by 2026. In preparation for this, LG Innotek says that it has already acquired facilities that are essential in the manufacturing of FC-BGA products for servers, such as "edge coating" that blocks the generation of dust particles.
In line with this goal, LG Innotek also plans to accelerate the development of next-generation substrate technologies in collaboration with global big-tech clients. By 2027, the company plans to internalise advanced technologies such as glass core substrates and re-distribution layer (RDL).
The company began full-scale mass production of FC-BGAs for PCs for North American big-tech customers at the end of last year and recently succeeded in securing additional global big-tech clients.
"LG Innotek will continue to expand the production of FC-BGAs that provide exceptional customer value based on its state-of-the-art Dream Factory and develop the FC-BGA business into 700 million USD business by 2030," says Minseok Kang, vice president and head of LG Innotek's Substrate & Material Business Unit, in the press release.
Industry forecasts from the Fuji Chimera Research Institute project the global FC-BGA market will grow from USD 8 billion in 2022 to USD 16.4 billion by 2030.