As demand for CO (carbon monoxide) for semiconductors is skyrocketing, domestic companies that were in charge of supplying to major semiconductor companies and Japanese companies that were supplying CO domestically are building their own factories in Korea, so competition for domestic CO supply is expected to intensify.

According to recent industry sources, Company D, which supplies semiconductor CO to major domestic semiconductor manufacturers, is known to be building a plant for its own CO production.

Company D has been supplying CO to Samsung Electronics and others, and has been importing and supplying products from Japan's Company S until now.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Japan's S company is also recently building a production plant in the Hwaseong area of Gyeonggi Province.

It is not known whether the company will continue to supply through Company D as before or supply directly to semiconductor manufacturers once this factory is completed, but industry insiders predict that they will each go their own way as Company D is building its own factory.

CO is a special gas mainly used as an atmospheric gas for semiconductor etching. It is used together to improve the performance of CF series etching gases such as C4F6 (hexafluorobutadiene) and maximize the process effect. It is known that the etching efficiency increases as the amount of CO input increases.

In particular, the demand for etching gas is increasing due to the recent miniaturization of semiconductors and the advancement of NAND flash, and according to industry forecasts, the demand for CO is expected to increase by two to three times within one to two years.

It is known that most domestic CO distribution is through imported distribution.

CO for semiconductors is known to be difficult to produce, and it is known that most products using formic acid are used to ensure purity.

CO produced in general chemical processes contains a lot of iron (Fe), and in this case, it is often converted to CO2 (carbon dioxide), so it is known to be problematic for use in semiconductors.

In addition, CO is expensive and requires a lot of technology for purity and packaging, so it has been imported from Japan, China, etc. up until now.

The industry predicts that domestic CO production will continue to increase in line with the increase in domestic semiconductor demand in the future.