[Editor's Note] At the Merck booth at SEMICON Korea 2026, we met with Katherine Dei Cas, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Delivery Systems and Services at Merck Electronics, and Woo-Kyu Kim, CEO of Merck Korea, to hear about Korea's strategic position and business direction for this year.


■ I would like to hear about Korea's strategic position from Merck headquarters.rong>

South Korea is a global market and technology leader in semiconductor memory chips. It is particularly strong in areas such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a key component of graphics processing units that power generative AI systems.

With geopolitical tensions escalating in the semiconductor industry, the pace of innovation and supply chain resilience have become crucial for semiconductor companies around the world, including Korea, to remain competitive.

Korea already leverages Merck's robust global network and local production base to provide resilience in inventory levels and suppliers across the supply chain, making it the perfect partner to mitigate risk for customers.

■ Highlights of Merck's booth at Semicon Korea 2026

This is an integrated molybdenum solution to drive the AI revolution. Molybdenum is a key new material for implementing smaller nodes and complex chip architectures, and is supplied with high-quality materials and an advanced delivery system, the CHEMKEEPER® series, designed to be ready for mass production from the start.

In particular, molybdenum solutions are localized within Korea, with a manufacturing facility under construction in Eumseong and delivery system products being produced in Ansan.