Semiconductor Material Company 'SPCI' to Build Third Factory in Gyeongju with 63 Billion Won Investment

Signed Business Agreement with Gyeongju City

A specialized semiconductor core electronic materials company will be established in the Angang area, the northern region of Gyeongju City.

On the 10th, Gyeongju City signed a memorandum of understanding for investment with SPCi at the City Hall External Cooperation Office, focusing on an investment of 63 billion KRW and the creation of 50 new jobs for the expansion of Gyeongju Plant 3.

CEO Lee Cheol of SPC I, a core material company for semiconductors (right in the photo), and Mayor Joo Nak-young of Gyeongju are taking a photo after signing a business agreement.

The signing ceremony was attended by about 20 people, including Gyeongju Mayor Ju Nak-young, Gyeongju City Council Chairman Lee Cheol-woo, and SPCi CEO Lee Cheol.

SPCi, established in 2009 at Ulsan Technopark, is a specialized company manufacturing catalysts for plastics. It is a strong small and medium enterprise supplying metallocene catalysts, a next-generation catalyst that can dramatically improve the properties of polyolefin (PO), to major heavy chemical companies such as LG Chem, DL Chemical, and Lotte Chemical.

They have domestically produced metallocene catalysts, which were previously entirely imported from overseas, boasting the largest market share in Korea, and are actively exporting overseas to global companies such as Total in Europe and PTTGC in Thailand.

Recognized for this technological capability, since 2019, they have been supplying semiconductor core electronic materials (precursors) to Samsung Electronics’ first-tier partners, and in 2021, they established a second plant and a research institute with the latest facilities in the Angang area of Gyeongju.

Regarding the investment scale, by 2025, they will invest 63 billion KRW to build a dedicated catalyst factory for vertical integration of the highly growing metallocene catalyst business and a third plant for producing various high-purity semiconductor precursors on a 25,680㎡ site within the Geomdan General Industrial Complex in Angang, Gyeongju. Sales are expected to exceed 150 billion KRW in 2026, the full operation year.

SPCi CEO Lee Cheol said, “To become a trustworthy company, we plan to actively invest in R&D and employee capacity development. We will prioritize hiring Gyeongju citizens for the newly established factory to create a company that grows together with the local community. We will fully domesticize metallocene catalysts, an essential material in Korea’s heavy chemical industry, and develop various IT materials to greatly contribute to the advancement of the electronic materials industry, becoming the leading core material company with future growth engines.”

Mayor Ju Nak-young said, “I express my gratitude to SPCi CEO Lee Cheol and the executives and employees for deciding on a generous investment in Angang, Gyeongju. Taking this investment as an opportunity, we will actively attract excellent and strong small and medium enterprises to establish the Angang Geomdan Industrial Complex as a hub for new growth industries such as semiconductor materials and secondary batteries, and we will spare no administrative and financial support to help Angang develop into a new industrial city of Gyeongju.”

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