Henkel, a global adhesive technology company, is accelerating the expansion of its electronic materials business, including semiconductors, by making Korea a key hub. Henkel, well known for industrial adhesives, now serves as the hidden foundation of the electronics industry by supplying material technology across high-tech industries such as smartphones, automobiles, medical devices, semiconductor packaging, and high-performance computing.

Henkel held a press conference at the Henkel Korea Mapo office on the 16th and introduced Henkel's semiconductor materials business.

On this day, Jang Ho-jun, Head of Henkel’s Adhesives and Electronic Materials business unit, emphasized the importance of the electronic materials business at the Korean subsidiary and explained that the company is strengthening its capabilities to respond to major electronics and semiconductor customers, focusing on Korea and Vietnam.

Founded in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1876, Henkel is a global materials and adhesive technology company celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

Henkel operates its business on two main pillars: adhesive technologies and consumer brands, and recorded group sales of approximately 20.5 billion euros and an adjusted operating profit of approximately 3 billion euros in 2025.

Among these, the Adhesive Technologies business unit generated approximately 10.7 billion euros in revenue and is conducting global business in the fields of industrial adhesives, sealants, and functional coatings.

Henkel's adhesive technology is widely applied from everyday products to high-tech industries.

According to company data, more than 50 Henkel solutions are applied to a single smartphone, and Henkel technology is used in 140 out of 150 cars worldwide.

Henkel adhesive is used in one out of every three pairs of famous brand sneakers, and Henkel adhesive technology is also applied to medical syringes.

This is an example demonstrating that adhesives are establishing themselves not merely as auxiliary materials for bonding objects, but as core materials that determine the structure, durability, safety, and productivity of products.

In particular, the fields that Henkel is focusing on are semiconductors and electronic materials.

Henkel is a global leader in semiconductor packaging, electronic assembly, and thermal management.As a materials company, it supplies materials to the entire value chain, ranging from IC design to wafer manufacturing, semiconductor packaging, module manufacturing, board assembly, and final equipment.

The electronic materials business is broadly divided into semiconductor packaging, modules and components, and consumer devices, providing various solutions for bonding, protection, heat dissipation, and assembly in each area.

In the semiconductor field, Henkel's materials portfolio covers the entire packaging process, including die attach, underfill, encapsulation materials, NCP and NCF, lead and stiffener bonds, and thermal interface materials.

As semiconductors become more miniaturized and highly integrated, and the demand for AI and high-performance computing expands, the importance of materials that connect and protect the internal structures of chips, substrates, and packages, as well as control heat, is growing even more.

In line with these changes, Henkel is strengthening the development of high-reliability materials, such as underfills for advanced packaging, wafer-level encapsulants, and thermal management materials.


CEO Jang Ho-jun said, “Advanced packaging is a key growth axis for Henkel’s electronic materials business.” “As semiconductor microfabrication approaches its physical limits, the focus of performance improvement is shifting from competition over the linewidth of the chip itself to packaging technology that combines multiple chips and arranges them efficiently,” they said. “With the proliferation of AI accelerators, HBM, 2.5D and 3D stacking, chiplets, and heterogeneous integration technologies, the roles of underfills that protect junctions, wafer-level encapsulants, and thermal interface materials are also growing.” Henkel explained that among the essential advanced packaging materials identified by semiconductor manufacturers, encapsulation materials, lead and stiffener adhesives, underfill, large-area and thin-die wafer-level handling, and thermal management materials are its strength categories.

He stated that Korea is at the center of this strategy, adding, “Since entering Korea in 1989, Henkel has conducted business across industrial and consumer goods and operates production plants and research and development facilities domestically.”

The adhesive business unit has established a customer response system based at the Mapo office in Seoul, the Gasan Henkel Innovation Center in Seoul, the Busan Application Center, the Songdo plant, the Cheonan plant, and the Eumseong plant.

CEO Jang Ho-jun stated, “As Korea’s share in the global electronics and semiconductor industry has grown, Henkel is pursuing a strategy of linking research and development, production, and technical support in close proximity to domestic customers.”

The Henkel Innovation Center in Gasan, Seoul, and the Incheon Songdo plant are key infrastructures supporting this strategy.

CEO Jang Ho-jun emphasized, “Since the early 2010s, Henkel has been building research and development and technical support capabilities in the electronics, automotive, and general industrial sectors, centered in Gasan, Seoul, with over 60 technical experts responsible for customer-tailored technical support and identifying new business opportunities,” adding, “Customized development is crucial for semiconductors and electronic materials because processes and requirements vary by customer.”

The Songdo plant, completed in 2022, serves as a production hub for electronic materials in the Asia-Pacific region. This factory, with a total area of 10,144㎡, produces adhesive solutions for semiconductor packaging, electronic components, and device assembly, and has an annual production capacity of up to 200–250 tons based on electronic materials.

The investment amount is 37 million euros, or approximately 45 billion won.

It has implemented smart manufacturing systems such as real-time process monitoring, predictive maintenance, and automated quality control, and has also obtained the LEED Gold certification for green buildings.

The location of the Songdo plant also works to the advantage of the electronic materials business.

CEO Jang Ho-jun explained that many semiconductor materials require cold storage and air transport, and that the Songdo factory has an advantage in logistics response due to its proximity to the airport.

In addition, they emphasized that the high accessibility to the R&D base in Gasan, Seoul, allows for the rapid transition of new products developed in response to customer demands into production.

During the Q&A, questions regarding HBM and next-generation packaging materials also followed.


Henkel stated that while it has not confirmed whether it will supply specific customers or specific generation products, it is continuously developing adhesives, encapsulation materials, thermal conductive materials, underfills, and encapsulation materials needed for HBM and next-generation high-performance packages.

They explained that their strengths lie in collaborating with not only Korean customers but also overseas design houses, and in developing and launching new products in a timely manner through their domestic R&D center and production facilities in Songdo.

CEO Jang Ho-jun“Adhesives are no longer just simple industrial auxiliary materials, but core materials that determine the performance, reliability, and production efficiency of high-tech industries,” he stated. “Technologies that enable the thin structure of smartphones, enhance the durability of automotive and electric vehicle components, and protect the joints of semiconductor packages while managing heat are all aligned with Henkel’s materials domain.”

In addition, he emphasized, “Henkel will support the advancement of the Korean and global electronics industries based on adhesive technology accumulated over more than 100 years, experience in the semiconductor and electronic materials fields, and R&D and production infrastructure in Korea.”