AMAT to Establish R&D Center in Korea

By Kim Eun-jin, BusinessKorea - Applied Materials (AMAT) of the United States, the world’s largest semiconductor equipment maker, has decided to establish an R&D center in Korea. Experts say U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Korea last month is accelerating cooperation between Korea and the United States in strengthening a semiconductor supply chain. With this investment, all the world’s top 4 semiconductor equipment makers will operate research and production facilities in Korea.

AMAT will officially announce a plan to build an R&D center in the southern part of Gyeonggi Province as early as June, a Korean government official said on June 6.

Applied Materials Korea hired about 1,000 people from 2018 to last year, and plans to hire up to 300 more people this year.

AMAT has decided to build the R&D center because it felt the need to cooperate with large Korean semiconductor manufacturers. As it is difficult to partner with Chinese manufacturers amid the U.S.-China economic conflict, AMAT’s is looking to strengthen cooperative systems with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. In particular, a rumor is going around that President Biden’s visit to Korea had a massive influence on AMAT’s investment decision. In fact, AMAT CEO Gary Dickerson attended a Korea-U.S. business roundtable held in Seoul on May 21 and met with Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won.

From the standpoint of Korean semiconductor companies, AMAT's move is expected to help resolve equipment supply uncertainties in the mid- to long-term.

When AMAT’s R&D center is completed, Korea will be an R&D base for three of the world’s four largest semiconductor equipment vendors. Lam Research of the United States opened an R&D center in South Korea in April, extending its global research network connecting the United States and Europe, while Tokyo Electron (TEL) of Japan is expanding its R&D center in Korea. The other company, ASML of the Netherlands, has decided to set up an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) equipment training center.

Source: www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=94101 

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