Global semiconductor materials and equipment companies are entering Korea one after another, establishing research centers and production facilities in Gyeonggi-do. The reason they use Gyeonggi-do as a base is interpreted as the fact that the semiconductor production lines of major customers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, are concentrated in Gyeonggi-do, such as Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek, and Icheon.
If a global material and equipment company establishes a base in Korea, semiconductor manufacturing companies can avoid a fatal blow to the supply and demand of materials and equipment even if an unpredictable risk such as a global logistics crisis occurs, thereby stabilizing the supply chain.
Semiconductor materials and equipment makers can support Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix for cutting-edge chip manufacturing, develop related technologies, and secure high-level domestic professional manpower.
Gyeonggi-do expects to expand jobs while attracting high-quality doctoral-level talent to the region. As the interests between local governments and companies are intertwined, global materials and equipment companies are gaining momentum in entering the domestic market.
Lam Research, one of the world’s three largest semiconductor equipment companies, built the Lam Research Korea Technology Center, a research and development facility, in the Jigok Industrial Complex in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, and held an opening ceremony on the 26th. Lam Research is a global semiconductor equipment maker with annual sales of over 10 trillion won, and is the third-largest equipment maker in the world after Applied Materials and ASML.
According to the International Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Association, Korea (55%, $25 billion) is the second largest country in the world with the world’s second highest share of semiconductor equipment sales compared to China (58%, $29.6 billion), a market that Lam Research cannot miss.
Lam Research, which had already established Lam Research Manufacturing Korea, a production corporation in Osan, Gyeonggi-do in 2011, also opened an R&D center on the 26th, securing a base for semiconductor equipment manufacturing, distribution and R&D in Korea.
Gyeonggi Province signed a business agreement with Lam Research in 2019 and has supported the establishment of Lam Research Korea Technology Center. An official from Gyeonggi-do said, “We decided to support the localization of semiconductor equipment by facilitating the localization of semiconductor equipment, which will greatly increase the localization rate of domestic semiconductor equipment and create new jobs for more than 300 experts in science and engineering.”
zoomMerck’s Pyeongtaek Advanced Technology Center (Source = Merck Korea)German global chemical company ‘Merck’ opened a high-tech center in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do in 2020 and has been conducting R&D. Recently, a semiconductor chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurry production line was built at the Pyeongtaek Technology Center, and full-scale domestic production is on the brink.
CMP slurry is used to polish and planarize the surface of a semiconductor wafer (original plate). Merck’s major customers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, expanded their semiconductor production capacity and related demand surged.
DuPont, a US chemical materials company, has also announced an investment of $28 million (35 billion won) to build an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photoresist development and production plant in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. Extreme ultraviolet photoresist is a photoresist that is sprayed on the wafer to draw fine circuits, and is a key material for realizing microprocessing. It is interpreted as a move to catch the demand of domestic semiconductor companies that are spurring the development of ultra-fine processes.
Ki-hyeon Ahn, Executive Vice President of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, said, “Global companies are developing their materials and equipment technology while supporting the high-level technology of Korean semiconductor manufacturing companies, and furthermore, they are establishing a strategy to secure domestic professional talent through recruitment through the research center.” “The existing Korean materials and equipment companies and global materials and equipment companies are expected to compete fiercely in Korea,” he said.
Dong-a.com IT specialist Kim Dong-jin (kdj@itdonga.com)
