ASML, Samsung to invest one trillion won on research plant in South Korea

ASML Holding and Samsung Electronics will jointly spend one trillion won (S$1 billion) to build a South Korean plant that will develop cutting-edge semiconductor processing technology.

The plant will use next-generation extreme ultraviolet equipment technology, available exclusively via ASML, that’s used to produce high-end chips, the Veldhoven, Netherlands-based company said on Tuesday (Dec 12).

ASML and South Korea-based Samsung’s deal follows a diplomatic exchange between Korea and the Netherlands. The new plant expands ASML’s presence in Korea, where it already has four sites serving customers including Samsung. Geographic diversity is increasingly important with ASML and its unique technology at the centre of a trade war between the US and China.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday and toured ASML’s headquarters with Dutch King Willem-Alexander. Samsung executive chairman Jay Y Lee and SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won also joined the tour.

The countries also announced plans to establish the “Korea-Netherlands Advanced Semiconductor Academy”, which will allow Korean semiconductor-related students and workers to have education opportunities in the Netherlands. ASML, which is facing a severe labour shortage, depends on foreign talent to expand its business.

ASML is the world’s top maker of lithography systems, machines that perform a crucial step in the process of creating semiconductors. It is the world’s only source of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines used by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Samsung and Intel for the most advanced fabrication. BLOOMBERG