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Several 8-inch foundries in South Korea are seeing strong profit growth in 2021 as 8-inch capacity that was once neglected a few years ago has returned to the mainstream.

According to Digitimes, one of South Korea's major foundries, Dongfang Hi-Tech, broke its revenue record in 2021, breaking 1 trillion won for the first time, and its operating profit increased by 67% year-on-year to 399.1 billion won.

Before the strong demand for 8-inch wafer capacity, Dongfang Hi-Tech's operating profit in 2019 was only 104.6 billion won, which means that the foundry's operating profit more than tripled in just two years.

Industry sources said prices for used 8-inch fab equipment have soared in the past two years, but most were bought by Chinese companies. Most Korean manufacturers believe that there is still room for growth in demand for 8-inch fab capacity.

8-inch fabs are typically used to manufacture automotive chips, display driver ICs and power management ICs. Analysts note that it will be difficult for manufacturers to expand capacity anytime soon, but demand for IoT and automotive electronics is definitely on the rise.