JK Materials, a subsidiary of KOSDAQ-listed HanWool Materials Science, completed its Sejong campus after four years. JK Materials aims to localize materials used in advanced products such as semiconductors and displays and reach 500 billion won in sales by 2030.
Board Chair Kim Kyung-jun of JK Materials said at the Sejong campus completion ceremony on the 12th in Sejong that the company plans to not only localize advanced process materials currently dependent on imports, but also produce products with improved price competitiveness and performance.
The newly opened JK Materials Sejong campus consists of eight buildings over 5,400 pyeong and broke ground in 2024. It will produce core materials and supplies for photoresist used in the lithography process, a key semiconductor step, as well as advanced packaging materials for HBM and films for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. It is expected to enable the localization of advanced product material businesses that have long relied heavily on overseas imports.
Kim said the company has succeeded in localizing the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) insulating film material that had been fully imported from Japan and is conducting sample tests with major customers.
JK Materials previously signed supply contracts and joint development memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with companies including Nissan Chemical and Dongwoo Fine-Chem. Full-scale mass production is expected around May this year.
The company is also preparing to produce materials needed for high-bandwidth flash memory (HBF), which is drawing attention as the next-generation semiconductor material after HBM. HBF is a type of semiconductor that stacks NAND flash vertically like HBM to boost read speeds. The company said it is drawing attention because it could offset HBM's biggest drawback of small capacity.
Kim explained that development of a high-performance polymer needed for HBF was recently completed and that the company plans to begin mass production through the Sejong campus.
Once the JK Materials Sejong campus begins operations, it is expected to accelerate the earnings improvement of parent company HanWool Materials Science. HanWool Materials Science posted 13.6 billion won in sales on a consolidation basis last year, with an operating loss of 24.6 billion won. Sales fell 21.22% from a year earlier.
Related sales were only about 1 billion won last year, but the company plans to increase deliveries step by step this year with a goal of achieving 25 billion won in sales. Through the JK Materials Sejong campus, HanWool Materials Science is targeting 500 billion won in sales and 60 billion won in operating profit by 2030.
A JK Materials official said the company is currently discussing production items with several customers and, depending on the outcome, plans to enter full-scale mass production, adding that it expects to expand results as planned.