Merck Korea (CEO Dr. Woo-Kyu Kim, Merck), the Korean subsidiary of leading science and technology company Merck, is actively supporting the development of next-generation semiconductor chips by domestic semiconductor companies by establishing the local supply capability for spin-on dielectric (SOD), which is critical to the development of high-bandwidth memory and advanced logic chips.

Merck opened the Korea SOD Application Center (KSAC) in Anseong, Gyeonggi-do on the 10th.

For this event, Merck's Electronics Business Group CEO Kai Beckmann, Thin Film Business Group Senior Vice President Suresh Rajaraman, and their leadership team visited Korea and held an opening ceremony together with Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon, Anseong City Mayor Kim Bo-ra, Samsung Electronics Materials Development Vice President Park Sung-joon, and SK Hynix Base Technology Center Materials Development Vice President Gil Deok-shin.

Kai Beckmann, CEO of Merck Electronics, said, “The opening of the SOD Application Center in Korea will play a key role in Merck’s journey to drive innovation in the semiconductor industry. “Through this research center, we are confident that we will be able to lead the future of semiconductor technology and accelerate our customers’ innovation by meeting the demands of the rapidly evolving digital industry,” he said.

“Innovation is at the heart of what we do at Merck,” said Suresh, Senior Vice President, Global Thin Film Solutions. “The new application center will enable us to develop cutting-edge solutions and shorten lead times to meet dynamic customer requests in Korea and the wider Asia Pacific region, enabling more efficient innovation cycles. It will also contribute to the development and stable supply of advanced, high-purity SOD materials in the region.”

Woo-Kyu Kim, CEO of Merck Korea, said, “As a leading Material Intelligence TM leader in the global electronics industry, Merck has opened the SOD Application Center in Korea, including the acquisition of Emchemical, to support our Korean customers, who are global leaders in the semiconductor market. This is an important part of Merck’s strategy to strengthen its capabilities as an innovation and production hub in Korea.”

As a leading semiconductor solutions company with the broadest portfolio of materials solutions in the semiconductor industry, Merck is uniquely positioned within the ecosystem by combining its capabilities in atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and spin-on dielectric (SOD) thin film technologies. These materials are critical for the development of next-generation DRAM and NAND flash devices, high-bandwidth memory for AI applications and advanced logic chips.

The new facility is Merck’s second SOD Application Center in Asia to meet high demand in the region. The new facility in Korea is part of Merck’s global R&D network, which features state-of-the-art equipment to measure and analyze SOD materials coated on silicon dioxide (SiO2) films and is supported by experts from a variety of technical fields.

Korea is one of Merck's key investment target countries, and as part of its 'Level Up' growth program in late 2022, the company announced an investment of approximately 600 million euros by the end of 2025 to continuously expand its production space and promote R&D and innovation. The implementation is progressing smoothly, with a progress rate of over 50% to date.