Korea must nurture chip materials, parts, facilities: Jusung

South Korea needs to nurture its materials, parts and facilities industries to keep competitiveness in the semiconductor sector, said the chief executive of Jusung Engineering Co., a leading chip equipment maker.

“South Korea is the top in the memory chip sector, but its competitiveness in the materials, parts and facilities sectors remain weak,” Jusung CEO Hwang Chul Joo told The Korea Economic Daily in an interview Tuesday. “Without nurturing the industries, the status of a semiconductor powerhouse will disappear like a mirage.”

The country is home to the world’s two largest memory chip makers – Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc.

“We do not have natural resources and are not as powerful as the US and China. Our materials, parts and facilities sectors are not strong as Japan’s. We need to move faster and change more for survival,” Hwang said at his office in the company’s research and development center in Yongin, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Seoul.

MASTER IN KOREAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT SECTOR

Hwang is considered to have paved the way for the South Korean semiconductor equipment industry. He started his semiconductor career at Hyundai Electronics Co., currently SK Hynix, and worked for ASM International N.V., a Dutch chip equipment company.

He founded Jusung in 1993 when ASM closed its South Korean business and developed it into a major company with more than 3,000 patents, many of which he invented.

Jusung developed deposition equipment for capacitors, a key equipment for DRAM production, in 1995 for the first time in the world. The equipment made up 95% of the local market. Jusung was also the world’s first company to unveil atomic layer deposition equipment.

“We worked hard on these accomplishments, like fools with no fear,” Hwang said. “I am so proud that we created something out of nothing.”

INNOVATION ADDICT

Hwang, who is called an “innovation addict,” actively sought to diversify businesses by applying semiconductor technology to other industries to deal with volatility in the chip sector.

Jusung is supplying display plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition equipment to major companies at home and abroad. The company is also working on solar cell equipment to cope with a potential slowdown in the display sector.

“The three businesses have a common denominator – electricity and light, so they can be converged at any time,” he said. “Jusung is strong in crises because it is flexible.”

Thanks to the diversification, Jusung’s operating profit surged 20.7% to 123.9 billion won ($94.4 million) on a consolidated basis in 2022 from the previous year with sales up 16.1% to 437.9 billion won despite the global semiconductor industry downturn. Its operating profit margin stood at around 28% for the year.

Write to Kyoung-Ju Kang at qurasoha@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.