SK Siltron is making an aggressive investment worth 1 trillion won in cooperation with Gyeongsangbuk-do Province and Gumi City.

Gyeongbuk Province and Gumi City officially announced on the 29th that at the investment agreement ceremony held at Gumi City Hall, Gyeongbuk Province Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs Ha Dae-seong, Gumi Mayor Jang Se-yong, and SK Siltron CEO Jang Yong-ho signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for investment worth 1 trillion won for the 'expansion of silicon semiconductor wafer manufacturing facilities.'

With this investment agreement, SK Siltron will invest KRW 1.0495 trillion in the Gumi National Industrial Complex 3 to expand 300mm (12-inch) silicon wafer manufacturing facilities on a 42,716㎡ (12,920 pyeong) site by 2024 and pursue a large-scale project that will create 1,000 jobs.

In November of last year, SK Siltron signed a memorandum of understanding to invest 190 billion won in expanding its SiC semiconductor wafer production plant, which is attracting attention as a next-generation power semiconductor, within its Gumi Plant 2.

This large-scale investment agreement provides another ray of hope to the citizens of Gumi, who have been disillusioned by the continued departure of large corporations.

SK, which possesses wafer manufacturing technology designated as a national core technologySiltron is producing 300mm (12 inches) and 200mm (8 inches) wafers with its outstanding technological prowess, having been selected as the ‘Best Small and Medium Business Company of the Year’ by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

As of last year, it ranked 5th in the world in terms of global wafer market share, and is preferred by integrated device manufacturers (IDMs). It is ranked 3rd in the world in the 300mm wafer market, and this investment is being made with the goal of becoming the global No. 1 in the 300mm wafer market in the future.

Gumi is home to a concentration of semiconductor companies, befitting its status as Korea's leading electronics city.

Companies such as SK Siltron, Magnachip Semiconductor, Waldex, Wonik QNC, Coorstec Korea, Fluortech, KEC, and Daejin Machinery are located here.

Gumi, home to a number of semiconductor-related companies, is expected to become the center of South Korea's semiconductor industry in the future, and this large-scale investment by SK Siltron is expected to accelerate that development.

Meanwhile, Gyeongbuk Province believes that the K-Semiconductor Belt announced by the government last year is centered around the metropolitan area, and that the alphabet K stops at the Chungcheong region, lacking consideration for local areas.

Accordingly, we plan to propose to the next government to expand the K-Semiconductor Belt by creating an ecosystem for wide bandgap semiconductors centered in Gyeongbuk, which has emerged as a solution to the needs of existing industries for higher power efficiency, increased power density, and extended battery life.

Gyeongbuk Province Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs Ha Dae-sung said, “This investment will serve as a catalyst for Gumi, the birthplace of Korea’s electronics industry, to rise to the next level as a cutting-edge industrial city,” and added, “We will continue to focus our capabilities on attracting semiconductor-related companies to Gumi so that it can become the center of the K-Semiconductor Belt.”