To Invest KRW5.1tr in Materials by 2025
SK Group’s holding company SK Inc. has merged with SK Materials, a semiconductor and display material affiliate. The merged company was officially launched on Dec. 1
SK Inc. announced the merger plan in August. It decided to merge SK Materials in a bid to secure a competitive advantage in four areas -- battery materials, materials for power generation and compounds, semiconductor materials and display materials.
SK Inc. previously released a blueprint for the high-tech materials sector at an investor relations meeting in September 2021. At the time, the company said it would invest a total of 5.1 trillion won in the sector by 2025.
SK Inc. plans to increase its global competitiveness in electric vehicle battery materials by investing in next-generation anode and cathode materials. It invested in Watson, the world’s No. 1 copper foil manufacturer.
In the anode material field, SK Materials partnered with Group 14 of the United States to establish a joint venture plant for next-generation silicon anode materials. The plant is expected to start mass production in 2023.
In the next-generation cathode material market, SK Inc. is in talks with Beijing Easpring Material Technology in China, a leading cathode material technology company, to establish a joint venture company
It also aims to localize gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors, and vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL), which are key materials for 5G telecommunication and autonomous driving.
In particular, silicon carbide (SiC)-based power and compound semiconductors have superior characteristics such as higher power, higher efficiency, and higher frequency compared to other silicon semiconductors, so they are expected to quickly ramp up their market shares in the silicon semiconductor market in the future.
In addition, SK Inc. is actively making investments to expand facilities in the semiconductor material sector. It plans to invest 1 trillion won in expanding production facilities for special gases, including nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) and monosilane (SiH4). SK Inc. ranks first in the global NF3 market.
Along with this, SK Inc. is expanding its product portfolio to include EUV photoresist and materials for CMOS image sensors (CIS) with very little power consumption.
In the area of display materials, SK Inc. plans to expand its business to high-level materials after securing market leadership based on core technologies for blue light emitting layers for OLED panels. Currently, it is developing next-generation OLED panel materials with improved luminous efficiency, high-performance circuit materials using semiconductor material technology, and micro-optical materials.