On October 14, South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning and Finance Hong Nam had a meeting with South Korean Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources Sung Yunmo and his party. The meeting clearly stated that in order to further strengthen the competitiveness of materials, parts and equipment used in high-tech industries such as semiconductors, it is necessary to further improve the technical standards in the "Basic Plan".
On the same day, Vice Premier Hong convened representatives of relevant departments, research institutions, and private enterprises at the Seoul Government Building in South Korea to convene a regular "Committee Meeting on Strengthening the Competitiveness of Materials, Parts, and Equipment." It also reviewed measures to strengthen cooperation between companies to promote the research and development of materials, parts, and equipment, build a plan based on the database research center, and basic plans to strengthen the competitiveness of the materials, parts, and equipment industries. Based on the Act on Special Measures for Materials, Parts, and Equipment that was implemented in April 2020, a basic plan for five years has been established.
Under the vision of "Strategy for a Powerful Country in Materials, Parts, and Equipment", three key strategies have been established: strengthening production capacity and supply chain to promote the development of Korea's cutting-edge materials, parts and equipment, and bringing together high-tech companies to build cutting-edge industries The global center of the People’s Republic of China launched a close collaboration system between officials and citizens
Vice Premier Hong said: We plan to support enterprises in terms of R&D (R&D), funding, human resources, infrastructure, special environmental and labor laws, etc. through the review and approval of this meeting. If this cooperation project can proceed smoothly, 130 billion won (approximately 780 million yuan) of private investment will be created by 2025 and approximately 1,000 new employees will be hired.
In addition, Vice Premier Hong emphasized that if the "Basic Plan" can be effectively implemented, by 2025, the number of Korean companies among the top 2,000 global Forbes companies is expected to increase from the current 11 to 20 %, and the technological level will increase to 85 in advanced countries.
Continue to attract foreign companies to enter Korea, and ADEKA is also setting up a cutting-edge material R&D center in Korea
As part of promoting the localization of materials, parts, and equipment, the Korean government and companies are actively inviting overseas companies to enter Korea while promoting the entry of domestic emerging companies. This is because the process of localization promoted by the Korean government also includes "manufacturing in Korea by foreign companies." As the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan has strengthened its control of export materials to South Korea, it has suddenly stopped exporting raw materials to South Korea since July 2019, resulting in the dilemma of the suspension of Samsung's semiconductor industry. In view of this incident, the South Korean government actively supports the localization of domestic companies' materials, parts, and equipment, and urges the development of domestic emerging companies. At the same time, it is also actively inviting overseas related companies to conduct R&D and manufacturing in Korea.
Lam Research has established a system from R&D to manufacturing in Korea. In addition, the US MEMC (a subsidiary of GlobalWafers in Taiwan) decided to build a new 300mm wafer factory in South Korea, and DuPont also decided to set up a mass production factory for EUV photoresist in South Korea. To this end, Tokyo Applied Chemical Industry began to produce conventional photoresist and EUV photoresist in South Korea. At the same time, Dongwoo Fine-Chem Co., Ltd., a Korean subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical, also plans to increase production. Used in the production of high-purity medicines and photoresists for semiconductors and display materials. Parts and equipment manufacturers such as Fujijin and Rorze are also greatly expanding their production in Korea.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on October 17 that in order to catch up with the above-mentioned increase in production and expansion, the chemical giant ADEKA plans to transfer part of the research and development work of high-dielectric materials with a high market share and used in the production of cutting-edge semiconductors to South Korea. At present, South Korean chemical manufacturers are also accelerating the development of competitive materials. In the long run, ADEKA is worried that its competitiveness in Korea may be weakened. Therefore, they are deepening cooperation with major customers such as Samsung to maintain market share.
So far, most Japanese companies have adopted the model of trial production and re-export in Japan in order to prevent the loss of cutting-edge materials technology. As a result, their market share has been replaced by domestic Korean companies that have R&D and production bases in Korea or foreign companies that have advanced in Korea. Capture. Today, many high-purity hydrogen fluoride manufacturers headquartered in Osaka are affected by the export ban to South Korea, which has led to a sharp decline in exports to South Korea and worsening performance. According to a Japanese company cadre entering South Korea, in order to cooperate with major customers in South Korea, they need to "promote long-term talks" and deal with them seriously, and must develop and produce in a very short period of time. Japan seems to be responding more and more. The more they are unable to meet the requirements of Korean customers, from the perspective of risk hedge, more and more Japanese companies consider expanding their production in Korea first.