Another Challenge
SK Group has taken on “daring challenges” in semiconductor business once again.
SK Holdings, which acquired OCI Materials last November, has changed the new affiliate's name to SK Materials on Feb. 16. The company will actively drive SK Group’s growth strategy through the Chinese market and aggressive M&As.
SK Materials held an extraordinary shareholders' meeting, where it approved the name change. In November last year, SK Holdings acquired a 49.1 percent stake in OCI Materials.
SK is planning to nurture SK Materials, which produces specialty gases used in the manufacture of semiconductors and displays, as the total semiconductor materials maker. In particular, the company will add higher value-added products in addition to existing products, such as nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), tungsten hexafluoride (WF6) and monosilane (SiH4), and raise the corporate value. Currently, SK Materials has the largest market share of the global NF3 market at 40 percent.
SK Group’s unique business expansion strategy will also be applied. First, the company will expand its business in China according to the group’s “China Insider” strategy. It will expand local sales by making the best use of the current trend to increase the investment in semiconductor in China and SK Group's extensive business network in China. SK Materials is the only company that operates NF3 production and logistics facilities in Jiangsu and Xi'an of China among semiconductor materials producers in Korea and Japan.
The company will also develop businesses through aggressive M&As and technical partnerships in other countries. Under its chairman Chey Tae-won’s “global partnering” strategy, SK Group has been promoting its businesses through joint ventures and partnerships with global leading companies.
SK Materials recorded the best performance ever last year and it is also expected to see a rapid increase in growth this year. This is because the demand for specialty gases used in semiconductor production is on the increase as more and more semiconductor producers are converting to the micro process and expanding 3D NAND investment.