To Foster Advanced Materials Business
SK Siltron, the only silicon wafer producer in Korea, has completed the acquisition of Teraon Co., a startup specializing in nano-carbon.
SK Siltron completed the acquisition of 94,569 new shares of Teraon for 25 billion won on May 11. As a result, its stake in Teraon jumped to 75.28 percent from 10.77 percent. It took about 37 billion won for SK Siltron to secure the company's management rights.
SK Siltron started acquiring the stake in Teraon in 2021. It bought a 10.77 percent stake in Teraon for about 1.5 billion won.
Teraon is a five-year-old startup founded by Dr. Kim Yun-jin of the Korea Electronics Technology Institute in 2018. It possesses technologies for materials such as a nano-carbon heating material and high heat-resistance conductive ink. Among them, the nano-carbon heating material is capable of generating rapid and high-temperature heat at 250°C or higher and can be used for electric vehicles and the like. Teraon's nano-carbon-based high-efficiency heating material and flexible film heater technology developed are included in the top 10 nanotechnologies selected by the Korean government in 2020.
In the first quarter of 2022, Teraon’s sales hit 277.38 million won, far surpassing sales of 57 million won in 2021. However, its operating loss in the first quarter was 270.45 million won, continuing to post loss. It showed a typical early start-up business scorecard.
SK Siltron plans to develop advanced materials businesses such as electric vehicles through Teraon. SK Group achieved the vertical integration of its semiconductor business by taking over SK Hynix in 2012 and SK Siltron in 2017. Currently, SK Siltron’s main business item is silicon wafers, a core material for integrated semiconductor circuits. To expand its business areas, it acquired the silicon carbide wafer business unit from DDP Specialty Electronic Materials US 9, a DuPont subsidiary in the United States, for US$450 million in 2019.
Silicon carbide wafers are next-generation semiconductor materials used in electric vehicles, among others. SK Siltron entered a new business area following silicon wafers, a basic material for semiconductors. The company is considering creating synergies with the advanced electric vehicle materials business through Teraon.