Kowin Robotics and China's Youibot sign MOU on robots for semiconductor fabs

Korean robot integrator Kowin Robotics signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese embodied-AI robot maker Youibot Robotics to jointly develop, validate and sell AMRs, mobile manipulators, humanoid robots and control platforms for semiconductor fabs, Korea's Robot Newspaper reported on Oct 20 citing the company.

Youibot supplies AMRs and mobile manipulators that move 12-inch wafer carriers in ISO Class 3 cleanrooms and, by its own account, has more than 400 customers and more than 10 fab references, the report said.

Kowin, which won a contract in March to supply handling robots for back-end test processes at a Korean memory maker, plans to combine Youibot hardware with its own robot control system (RCS), autonomous navigation software and integration to target wafer loading and unloading, inter-tool transport and advanced packaging.

No financial terms were given. MEKAWIRE context: the deal brings a Chinese fab-automation supplier into Korea's chip supply chain through a local integrator rather than direct sales.