SK Hynix Admits that a Batch of its DRAM Wafers is Defective, Downplays Scale of the Problem

[btarunr]

Korean DRAM and NAND flash giant, SK Hynix, admitted that a rather big batch of its DRAM wafers is defective and in circulation. The size of this defective batch is rumored to be 240,000 wafers according to a Yonhap report, although the company downplays the scale of the problem citing its monthly production output of 1.8 million wafers.

The company said that it is working with its customers who received these wafers, for recall and replacement. "We're currently talking to a limited number of customers affected by this to address the issue. While it's too early to estimate the potential losses, we don't think they would be that significant as the defect is within the range of typical quality issue check." Besides this, the company is battling rumors surrounding the scale of defective DRAM wafers by the company, in circulation. "The scale of the potential losses mentioned in the rumor is absolutely not true and exaggerated," the company said, in a statement to The Register.



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[Kohl Baas]

Guess they've ran out of natural disasters...

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Guess they've ran out of natural disasters...

Not just pumped "reasons" for increase or prices.

 

[Kaapstad]

I would be very interested to know what is defective with these Wafers and how so many got past the companies internal QA checks.

 

[TheDeeGee]

Not surprised, had a HyperX kit earlier this year, and 3 of the 4 sticks threw hundrerds of errors in memtest.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Not surprised, had a HyperX kit earlier this year, and 3 of the 4 sticks threw hundrerds of errors in memtest.

You are aware that Kingston testes each an every module individually before they ship them, right?
So something most likely happened after those modules left their factory. I'm also sure they were replaced by Kingston?

 

[Legacy-ZA]

Guess they've ran out of natural disasters...

So, just another doubling of current overpriced products? My wallet is ready! /s

 

[TheDeeGee]

You are aware that Kingston testes each an every module individually before they ship them, right?
So something most likely happened after those modules left their factory. I'm also sure they were replaced by Kingston?

Either that or it was the crappy Asus Rog Strix B550-E Gaming, or my bad 5800X, kit was replaced with G.Skill which was error free.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Either that are it was the crappy Asus Rog Strix B550-E Gaming, or my bad 5800X, kit was replaced with G.Skill which was error free.

Well, I dunno what caused the problems, but I've actually been to Kingstons factory in Hsinchu, Taiwan and seen how they make their products. All their RAM is tested by hand in regular old motherboards, before it's packaged and sent out. I guess things could've changed since then, as it was a few years ago, but I'm very certain that they're still testing all their RAM.
Not defending Kingston here as such, I own exactly zero Kingston products, but something outside of their control most likely caused the issues you were having.

 

[Bones]

I would be very interested to know what is defective with these Wafers and how so many got past the companies internal QA checks.

Someone had to pee and coudn't leave their workstation so they just said (And did ) "Piss on it"?

I don't know but in agreement with others here, each and every year some BS reason comes up for jacking prices up and it's never a small one either.
Massive fires, power outages, earthquakes......
I'm just waiting to see what excuse they'll come up with next but at least I know what it is this time around.

 

[qubit]

I wonder what the actual defect is.

 

[Raven Rampkin]

Pay attention that it says wafers, not chips. I'm not even sure anymore what companies slit and package the wafers they purchase. Thought Kingston might be one but the package dimensions on their rebrandeon stuff ("Kingston-die") match the originals.
Doesn't leave out the possibility that it's some complex, non-immediate issue that slipped thru at Hynix themselves (or at Essencore that seems to be to Hynix what Spectek is to Micron, dumping out eTTs and whatnot at a reduced cost), when the silicon made it into packaged chips. That'd indeed affect any Hynix DRAM made from those wafers.

 

[persondb]

If it's 240,000 wafers then that would be tens to hundreds of millions of defective chips. Pretty massive.