Chungnam Attracts World's No.1 Semiconductor Vacuum Equipment Company

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province has attracted the world’s number one company in the semiconductor and display vacuum equipment sector.

On the 7th, Chungnam Governor Yang Seung-jo, Kate Wilson, CEO of the UK-based Edwards, Yoon Jae-hong, Co-CEO of CSK and Edwards Korea, and Oh Se-hyun, Mayor of Asan, signed an investment agreement worth $110 million.

The agreement centers on Edwards and CSK constructing an integrated system production plant for semiconductor and display process vacuum pumps and gas treatment equipment on a 50,781㎡ site in the Asan Tangjeong General Industrial Complex.

Edwards and CSK are subsidiaries of the Swedish Atlas Copco Group, holding 100% and 56% shares respectively.

Since its establishment in 1873, Atlas Copco has grown into a leading global industrial equipment company. It employs around 40,000 people and recorded sales of 13.5298 trillion KRW last year.

Edwards, founded in 1919 and headquartered in Burgess Hill, UK, is a semiconductor vacuum pump manufacturer recognized as the global number one in this field.

Notably, the company designated Korea as its global vacuum pump production base in 2011 and has invested 116 billion KRW in Cheonan over the past decade.

CSK, headquartered and with a factory in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, produces gas treatment equipment for semiconductor and display processes. It is a Korean joint venture acquired by Atlas Copco in 2017, holding the number one domestic market share in gas treatment equipment and ranking third worldwide in sales.

The province expects that once Edwards and CSK’s production plants operate as planned, there will be sales growth of 658.1 billion KRW, export effects worth 337.6 billion KRW, and the creation of 270 new jobs over the next five years.

Meanwhile, Chungnam Province and Asan City are working with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to designate the Asan Tangjeong General Industrial Complex, where the two companies will be located, as a complex-type foreign investment zone within this year.

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