South Korea's only producer of semiconductor developer will set up a second production base in Pyeongtaek. Handuk Chemical, an affiliate of Lotte Chemicals group, said on June 19 it held a groundbreaking ceremony in the Poseung (BIX) district of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, for a plant to produce tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), a developer for semiconductors and displays.

Handuk Chemical will invest 130 billion won to build semiconductor developer production facilities on a site of about 32,216 square metres in the Poseung district of Pyeongtaek. TMAH, used in a developing process that forms fine circuit patterns in semiconductor and display manufacturing, is a material that can currently be produced only by South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and the United States. Handuk Chemical plans to expand lines in stages in line with its customers' expansion schedules.

The Lotte Chemicals group has vertical integration for developer production. Lotte Fine Chemical produces the basic raw material TMAC, and Handuk Chemical uses it to manufacture the final product TMAH. Handuk Chemical started in 1995 as a joint venture between Lotte Fine Chemical and Japan's Tokuyama, and Lotte Chemical and Tokuyama each currently hold a 50 percent stake. It has also been selected as a facility to commercialise national strategic technologies.

With construction of the Pyeongtaek plant, Handuk Chemical will secure a production line in the Seoul metropolitan area in addition to its existing base in Ulsan. The company said it expects that diversifying production bases will allow it to respond more steadily to global supply and demand fluctuations and improve logistics efficiency and the speed of supply response.

Lee Young-jun (이영준), chief executive representative of the Lotte Chemicals group, said, "Breaking ground on the Pyeongtaek plant is a strategic investment to proactively respond to future demand and an important stepping stone to strengthen Lotte Group's advanced materials business," adding, "Following Ulsan, we expect that diversifying production bases to include Pyeongtaek will secure a stable supply system and strengthen supply chain stability for the domestic semiconductor cluster."