SK Materials, Full-Scale Entry into the Photoresist Material Market

[Asia Economy Reporter So-yeon Park] SK Materials is acquiring Kumho Petrochemical's electronic materials business and making a full-scale entry into the photoresist (PR) material market, which is essential for semiconductor processes.

On the 7th, SK Materials held a board meeting and signed a business transfer agreement to acquire Kumho Petrochemical's electronic materials business. The acquisition amount is 40 billion KRW. SK Materials plans to establish a subsidiary responsible for the photoresist material business within this month.

Photoresist is a photosensitive liquid that changes its chemical properties in response to light exposure and is a key material used in the "exposure process" to form precise circuit patterns on semiconductor wafers.

With the increasing demand for ultra-fine pattern implementation due to semiconductor high integration and intensified stacking competition in 3D NAND, the demand is continuously increasing. The global photoresist material market, currently worth about 3.5 trillion KRW, is attracting more attention for its growth potential.

Kumho Petrochemical, which has built over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor materials field, was the first in Korea to mass-produce argon fluoride (ArF) photoresist in 2005. It also has a track record of developing and supplying various photoresist materials and auxiliary materials such as krypton fluoride (KrF) photoresist for 3D NAND processes and bottom anti-reflection coating (BARC).

In addition, it holds its own patents related to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photoresist, which is evaluated to have high competitiveness in the semiconductor materials market.

Through this entry into the photoresist material market, SK Materials has diversified its business portfolio centered on specialty gases and strengthened its capabilities in developing high value-added semiconductor materials, laying the foundation to leap forward as a global comprehensive semiconductor materials company.

Going forward, since the photoresist material market is highly dependent on foreign products with overseas companies occupying more than 90% of the market share, and there is an increasing demand for stable supply and technological cooperation through domestic development, SK Materials plans to additionally secure new research and development (R&D) infrastructure to strengthen technological competitiveness and proactively respond to changes in semiconductor material trends.

Furthermore, along with the high-purity hydrogen fluoride gas currently being localized, SK Materials will accelerate the localization of photoresist materials, which is expected to contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of Korea's semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment industry in the mid to long term.

Lee Yong-wook, CEO of SK Materials, said, "We will continuously value up the photoresist material business with great growth potential and do our best to mass-produce and supply high value-added products that can meet customers' demands for material localization in a timely manner." He added, "We will continue to grow into a true materials platform company through active investment in new material research and development and active cooperation with domestic and foreign companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.