Reduce reliance on Japan! SKC will begin mass production of two key semiconductor materials in the second half of this year.

According to a report by South Korean media outlet Maeil Business News, South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on April 20 that SKC, SK Hynix’s sister company, is expected to begin mass production of high-end mask blanks in the second half of this year, thereby helping SK Hynix achieve self-sufficiency.
It is reported that SKC, a subsidiary of SK, is currently conducting tests on prototype samples of mask blanks—substrates used in semiconductor manufacturing processes—and is expected to begin mass production in the second half of 2020.
According to reports, about 90% of South Korea’s photomask substrates are supplied by Japan. Moreover, photomask substrates are among the 20 high-tech materials that South Korea imports in large quantities from Japan. Starting in 2018, SKC has been building a photomask substrate plant with an investment of up to 43 billion Korean won. The plant was completed last year and, with the support of the South Korean government, is now able to accelerate its operations, thereby reducing South Korea’s semiconductor manufacturers’ reliance on Japanese materials.
SKC and SK Hynix both belong to the SK Group. Since its establishment in 1976, SKC has been among the first in Korea to develop and manufacture numerous products in the fields of thin films, chemicals, and materials. Its core divisions are the thin-film and chemical divisions.
In July 2019, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced that it would tighten export controls on three materials—hydrogen fluoride used for semiconductor cleaning, fluorinated polyimide used in smartphone displays and other applications, and photoresist, a photosensitive material coated onto semiconductor substrates—that are essential in the manufacturing processes of semiconductors and other components for smartphones and televisions.
In response, South Korea has also introduced relevant measures to counter Japan’s export control measures against South Korea. For instance, South Korea has launched a plan to localize 100 key strategic products, allocating 7.8 trillion won in R&D funding to achieve the localization of these core strategic products within one to five years. Meanwhile, South Korean companies are accelerating their efforts to localize these products in this field.
In 2019, foreign media reported that SK Hynix had begun testing high-purity hydrogen fluoride sourced from domestic suppliers, while Samsung Electronics also started piloting hydrogen fluoride processed by Korean companies on its semiconductor production lines.
In early 2020, foreign media reported that South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated that Korean chemical companies had established manufacturing technology capable of producing hydrogen fluoride in large quantities at high purity. Hydrogen fluoride is used in processes such as wafer cleaning.
During an inspection of SKC’s plant in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do Province in central Korea on the 20th, South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Jeong Seung-il, emphasized the need to swiftly deliver results in policies related to materials, parts, and equipment. In particular, he stressed that the goal of securing a stable supply of the three high-end chemical materials—on which Japan imposed stringent export restrictions against South Korea starting last July—must be achieved within this year.

Key words: