POSCO has successfully localized the production facilities and technology for neon (Ne), a rare gas for semiconductors, and shipped its first product.

On the 12th, POSCO held a ‘Neon Production Facility Completion and Shipment Ceremony’ at the Gwangyang Steelworks oxygen plant, attended by Yoo Byeong-ok, Head of POSCO’s Industrial Gas and Hydrogen Business Division, Lee Jin-soo, President of Gwangyang Steelworks, and Yoo Won-yang, CEO of TEMC.

At the completion ceremony, Yoo Byung-ok, head of POSCO’s Industrial Gas and Hydrogen Business Division, said, “We are very honored to have achieved the complete localization of neon, a long-awaited task in the industrial gas market, through cooperation with TEMC, a leading domestic company.” He added, “Through ESG management that coexists with leading companies, we have been able to completely eliminate our technological dependence on foreign countries for rare gases and contribute to the stabilization of the domestic supply chain.”

POSCO has been working with TEMC (CEO Won-Yang Yoo), a company specializing in special gases for semiconductors, for approximately two years since the end of 2019. We have been promoting complete domestic production of neon.

We developed Korea's first neon production facility based on the oxygen plant at Gwangyang Steelworks and TEMC's technological prowess by utilizing a large-scale air separation device used in the production of gas for the steelmaking process.

In addition, TEMC has completed the localization of the entire process from extracting neon through refining it using its own technology to producing the finished product, excimer laser gas.

The newly completed facility will be able to produce approximately 22,000 N㎥ (normal cubic meters) of high-purity neon per year, which is expected to meet approximately 16% of domestic demand.

POSCO completed product quality evaluation through a test run at the end of last year, and is set to complete construction of the facility this year and begin full-scale commercial production.

In particular, this project is significant as it is the result of the ‘Benefit Sharing’ system, which is a system in which large and small businesses jointly perform improvement activities and share the results.

POSCO has established a new neon production facility and supply system by utilizing existing facilities and TEMC's technological capabilities, and TEMC has received full compensation for its initial investment as an incentive for successfully completing the project and secured long-term purchase rights for neon produced by POSCO.

With the recent rapid growth of the semiconductor market, the demand for rare gases such as neon (Ne), xenon (Xe), and krypton (Kr), which are essential for semiconductor production, is also rapidly increasing.

The industry predicts that the domestic rare gas market, which was worth about KRW 160 billion in 2020, will grow by an average of 20% per year to about KRW 280 billion in 2023.

On the other hand, the domestic semiconductor industry is 100% dependent on imports of rare gases.

Among them, neon is a rare gas that is present in only 0.00182% of the air and is used as a semiconductor material.It is one of the raw materials for excimer laser gas used in optical processes.

In the past, attempts were made to domestically produce the product due to price surges and supply shortages caused by trade disputes, but the development was limited to relying on foreign technology, and production of this too was discontinued, so currently all demand is imported.

Meanwhile, POSCO is fostering the industrial gas business as a new growth engine in line with the company's ESG management, including by promoting research and development of eco-friendly gas manufacturing technology for semiconductors last year.

The plan is to further strengthen the domestic neon supply chain by expanding neon production facilities in the future, and to develop production technology for xenon and krypton, which are also 100% dependent on imports, through collaboration with small and medium-sized enterprises to establish a win-win model for the domestic industrial gas market.