South Korea's SK mass-produces Japan-grade etching gas

[JustAnotherPerson]

SEOUL -- South Korea's SK Materials has begun mass production of a crucial chipmaking gas at a purity level nearly on par with Japanese-made offerings subject to export restrictions by Tokyo, the company said Wednesday.

A plant in the South Korean city of Yeongju will produce 15 tons of etching gas per year. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix reportedly will procure the gas for their semiconductor businesses.

This places South Korea a step closer to creating a chipmaking supply chain largely independent of Japan. Seoul aims to have homemade etching gas meet 70% of demand from domestic chipmakers by 2023.

Hydrogen fluoride is used to etch patterns on high performance chips, among other processes. SK Materials has achieved 99.999% purity for its etching gas, a level known as "five nine" in industry parlance.

But the purity falls short of the "11 nine" etching gas exported by Japanese suppliers. SK Materials said its gas is used primarily to clean semiconductor wafers.

Tokyo tightened export controls on a number of high-tech materials in July 2019, a move that Seoul views as economic retaliation over South Korean court rulings regarding wartime labor. In response, SK Materials established a research and development center in November, financed via a fund formed by SK Hynix.

Other South Korean materials suppliers have received government support to develop alternatives to Japanese imports. Soulbrain, a midsized player, says it has begun producing liquefied hydrogen fluoride with a purity level higher than "five nine."


Things don't look good for Japanese hawks and their export controls. You dont mistreat your costumers.
Let see what will happen to American hawks and their mistreat of their costumers with export controls.

 

[FuturePAF]

Where does China stand in this domain?

 

[JustAnotherPerson]

Where does China stand in this domain?

The have companies in every stage of Semiconductor materials from photoresists to etching.
https://optocrypto.com/china-will-have-its-own-photoresist-material-for-7nm-process-technology/

But the Japanese like in Korea dominate the market. Due the complacency of local companies in supporting foreign products instead of helping growth the locals ones creating a more stable supply chain. Instead local companies are trapped in a vicious cycle of not investing in R&D because is hard to sell your products.
Even 40% of domestic market share makes a gigantic different. You think Japanese hawks will act the way they acted if Japanese companies have some competition? You think Americans hawks will act the way they acted if Synopsis and LAM research have a good competition?
This hawks are counting in the market share of their companies as if is something written in stone, like something that the can use as a weapon.
Sadly for the companies used as a weapon lessons will be learned. So your market share only means how much you are going lose once alternatives appear.
I dont have a problem with the Free Market, but i do have a problem with the arrogance of some Neocons that they think that there is not consequences for their actions.
The Chinese used their monopoly of rare earth against Japan, the consequence was that Japan moved to find alternatives, the lessons where learned and never again. Chinese know if they use the rare earth as a weapon, alternatives will be finded.

 

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Koreans are not going to trust Japan anymore.

 

[JustAnotherPerson]

Koreans are not going to trust Japan anymore.

A really sad situation for Japanese companies who didn't asked for this.