[News] Lam Research, PSK Clash Over Bevel Etcher Patent as Korea Patent Suits Mount

Competition in the semiconductor equipment market is intensifying as South Korean suppliers expand their presence in advanced chipmaking equipment. According to The Elec, the 62nd Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court held the fifth hearing on August 13 in Lam Research’s patent infringement lawsuit against PSK.

The latest hearing centered on a dispute over the extent to which design drawings of a key component in PSK’s bevel etcher should be disclosed. The report adds that the case began in 2021, when Lam Research accused PSK’s bevel etcher of infringing its patents, seeking KRW 600 million in damages and the destruction of the equipment. PSK countered with patent invalidation proceedings.

Bevel etchers are used to remove unstable metallic and non-metallic films from the edges, or bevels, of semiconductor wafers. PSK successfully localized the equipment and has supplied it to customers including SK hynix, breaking into a market previously monopolized by Lam Research, the report adds.

The PSK dispute is part of a broader rise in Lam Research’s patent litigation in South Korea. Chosun Ilbo notes that, according to data provided to People Power Party lawmaker Koo Ja-keun’s office, Lam Research filed 12 patent infringement lawsuits against South Korean companies between 2020 and 2026, including nine since establishing its Yongin R&D center in 2022. Its Korean patent registrations also rose sharply from 68 in 2020 to 344 in 2025, fueling concerns in the domestic semiconductor equipment industry that the expanding patent portfolio could pave the way for further litigation.

Lam Research, PSK Clash Over Key Component Design

At the center of the latest proceedings is a technical dispute over whether PSK’s equipment incorporates a component covered by Lam Research’s patent. According to The Elec, Lam Research claims the component is a Gas Diffuser Ring (GDR), a ring-shaped part with an open center used to inject and control gases in etching equipment, and says it holds exclusive rights to the technology under Patent 247 (No. 1249247). PSK, however, maintains that its equipment uses a panel-shaped component with a closed center.

With the two sides still at odds, the court proposed a compromise. As The Elec indicates, PSK will bring the original, unredacted drawings to the next hearing so the court can examine the numerical details that Lam Research argues can determine whether the component is a ring or a panel. The report adds that the next hearing is scheduled for September.

Meanwhile, as noted by ZDNet, PSK has prevailed in invalidation proceedings involving five of the six patents it challenged, with Patent 247 remaining at issue in the ongoing Seoul Central District Court case. Between 2021 and 2022, PSK challenged four Lam Research patents and two Cham Engineering patents exclusively licensed to Lam Research, successfully invalidating five of them: Cham Engineering Patent No. 1433769 and Lam Research Patents Nos. 1441720, 1265827, 1433411, and 1468221. Patent 247, however, was upheld as valid by South Korea’s Supreme Court in 2024.

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(Photo credit: Lam Research)