THE KOREA ECONOMIC DAILY, GLOBAL EDITION

OCI Co., South Korea’s fine chemical company, has won a contract from SK Hynix Inc. to supply its high-purity phosphoric acid, becoming the country’s first to provide the core chip-producing material to all Korean semiconductor manufacturers.

The company announced on Monday that SK Hynix has picked it as its first Korean supplier of high-purity phosphoric acid after OCI passed the chipmaker’s quality test.

The fine chemical company said it already delivered the first batch of the mass-produced material, essential in the semiconductor wafer etching process, last month.

Thanks to the deal, OCI has become Korea’s first to supply high-purity phosphoric acid to the country’s all semiconductor producers, including Samsung Electronics Co., SK Keyfoundry Inc. and DB HiTek Co.

The contract is also expected to help OCI cement its position as the country’s leading producer of ultrapure phosphoric acid and expand its footing in the semiconductor material manufacturing industry.

MORE FOCUS ON CHIP MATIERLS

OCI first entered the phosphoric acid industry in 2007 and now boasts an annual production capacity of 25,000 tons.

The company plans to ramp up its high-purity phosphoric acid output to meet the growing demand for the material.

“OCI will expand the chip material business to meet the growing demand from the semiconductor industry and enhance our competitiveness in the sector,” OCI Chief Executive Kim Yoo-shin said after the SK Hynix deal was announced.

High-purity phosphoric acid is used across all chip fabrication processes, including dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash chip production, as well as chip foundry.

Its demand is expected to steadily increase in line with the growth of demand for high-performing chips such as high-bandwidth memory and the recovery of the overall chip market, the company said.

OCI also produces another core semiconductor material ultrapure hydrogen peroxide. It currently supplies the material to Japanese multinational computer memory maker Kioxia Holdings Corp.

To enhance its position as a semiconductor and battery material producer, OCI last month agreed to buy a 51% stake in P&O Chemical Co. from its business partner POSCO Future M Co. for 50 billion won ($37.4 million).

P&O is a 51-49 joint venture between POSCO Future M and OCI, launched in 2020. It produces high-purity hydrogen peroxide for semiconductor cleaning and coating material.

Following the acquisition, P&O will be OCI’s fully-owned subsidiary and is expected to increase the parent’s hydrogen peroxide output by 50,000 tons.

Currently, OCI can produce up to 75,000 tons of hydrogen peroxide per year.

Korea's only polysilicon producer also manufactures carbon materials and others, such as automotive interior materials.

Write to Sang Hoon Sung at uphoon@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.