A laser beam is applied to the front side of a wafer along division lines, to form grooves having a depth corresponding to a finished thickness of device chips. Molding resin is laid on the front side of the wafer and embedded in the grooves. A protective member is attached to a front side of the molding resin, and a back side of the wafer is ground to expose the grooves and to expose the molding resin embedded in the grooves on the back side of the wafer. The wafer is divided along the grooves by a cutting blade having a thickness smaller than the width of the grooves, a central portion in a width direction of the molding resin being exposed along the grooves, thereby dividing the wafer into individual device chips each having a periphery surrounded with the molding resin.