GNG Intech, a company specialising in ultrapure water (UPW) for semiconductors and reuse water-treatment, said on May 4 it had attracted institutional investment. The investors are semiconductor-focused L&S Venture Capital and Industrial Bank of Korea, and the round is at a Series A level. GNG Intech said it plans to use the investment to upgrade its business structure into a water-treatment technology platform company.

L&S Venture Capital made the investment through its semiconductor-focused fund, the L&S K-Semi Renaissance Investment Association, formed earlier this year. GNG Intech is the fund's first portfolio company. Industrial Bank of Korea also joined the round.

GNG Intech has built water-treatment engineering and operations and maintenance capabilities in ultrapure water used across all semiconductor production processes and in wastewater reuse. Ultrapure water refers to highly purified water from which minerals, fine particles, bacteria, microorganisms and dissolved gases are removed, and it is considered a key factor affecting process quality and yield. The company said it has strengthened its business base in water-treatment EPC, covering design, procurement and construction, and in the O&M market, based on 25 years of on-site experience.

Kim Ji-hye (김지혜), an executive director at L&S Venture Capital who led the investment, said the firm decided to invest after positively assessing the company's engineering capabilities built over 25 years in the water-treatment EPC and operations markets, and its potential to expand domestically and overseas in the semiconductor ultrapure water and reuse markets.

GNG Intech said it will use the funds to develop core element technologies for ultrapure water and to strengthen data and artificial intelligence-based smart O&M capabilities. It will also pursue overseas expansion. It named Taiwan, Singapore and the United States as priority target regions with semiconductor industry hubs.

Chief Executive Lee Ga-yoon (이가윤) said the fundraising was possible thanks to the efforts of employees who have quietly devoted themselves in the field over the past 25 years. She said the company will focus its capabilities across the organisation on full-scale scale-up and technology advancement to grow into a differentiated water-treatment technology company.