Korea's SK Siltron to invest $597 mn in silicon wafer production

South Korea’s SK Siltron Co. will invest 855 billion won ($597.4 million) to expand its 300-millimeter (12-inch) silicon wafer manufacturing facilities. The company decided on the budget at the meeting of its board of directors on Sept. 29.  

Silicon wafers are key materials for manufacturing semiconductors, with 300-mm wafers used for making microprocessor unit chips and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors within digital cameras and smartphones.

In the first half of 2023, the silicon wafer maker will review an additional investment of 400 billion won in the plant.

SK Siltron has been constructing a silicon wafer production plant in the National Industrial Complex in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, investing 1.05 trillion won since March.

The new plant on a 42,716 square-meter site will start mass production in the first half of 2024, meeting surging demand of global clients.

If the budget for an additional 400 billion won investment is approved, SK Siltron will have invested a combined 2.3 trillion won in silicon wafer production by 2026.       

Despite the slowdown in the chipmaking industry, SK Siltron is actively boosting investment in mass production to secure a competitive edge in the global market in a few years.    

The global semiconductor market is expected to rebound after a short-term downturn, and major chipmakers in Korea and overseas are expanding facilities for the long term, an SK Siltron official said.    

More than 90% of global silicon wafers are produced by several companies, including Japan’s Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. and Sumco Corporation, Taiwan’s GlobalWafers Co., Germany’s Siltronic AG and SK Siltron.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.