Samsung Electronics Invests 74 Bil. Won in 4 Material, Parts and Equipment Companies

Samsung Electronics invested 74 billion won in four semiconductor/display material, parts and equipment (MPE) companies. The investment was the company’s second major investment in the MPE sector this year following the 110 billion won investment in late July.

The Korean tech giant has been keen to strengthen the ecosystem of the domestic MPE industry since Japan restricted exports of key semiconductor materials to Korea in 2019.

Samsung Electronics participated in capital increases of the four companies. It invested 20.72 billion won in KCTech, 21.67 billion won in Mico Ceramics, 18.99 billion won in LOTVacuum and 12.7 billion won in New Power Plasma.

KCTech supplies chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) products to Samsung Electronics. It competes with Applied Materials of the United States and Ebara Corp. of Japan.

Mico Ceramics produces ceramic heaters that heat wafers at high temperatures in a semiconductor manufacturing process. LOTVacuum has succeeded in localizing dry vacuum pumps that absorb foreign substances from semiconductor equipment and make them vacuumed. New Power Plasma is currently developing its own RF generator, a major component of semiconductor equipment.

"Samsung Electronics has secured some managerial rights in the four companies as a result of the investment,” said a researcher at Shinyoung Securities. “Samsung Electronics and the companies which received investment will solidify their partnerships and execute a super-gap strategy in the field of semiconductor materials."