SKC按既定计划向Absolics首期出资约2810亿韩元推进玻璃基板商业化

SKC will invest about 281 billion won in glass substrate subsidiary Absolics, participating in proportion to its ownership stake in a 400 billion won rights offering announced by Absolics on Aug. 21.
SKC said in a regulatory filing that its board on Sept. 4 approved a cash investment of 280.98 billion won in the Absolics rights offering. The amount represents 8.76% of SKC's equity. SKC will acquire 192,416 new shares, bringing its total holdings to 358,416 shares while maintaining its existing 70.05% stake.
Applied Materials (AMAT), which owns the remaining 29.95% of Absolics, will also be allocated about 120 billion won worth of new shares in proportion to its stake. AMAT is expected to decide whether to subscribe after completing its internal procedures.
Payment for the new shares will be made on Sept. 28, U.S. Eastern Time, if existing shareholders subscribe to all shares allocated to them. The expected acquisition date is Nov. 24. If any shares are forfeited, the date will be based on the final payment date after additional subscriptions by existing shareholders are completed.
SKC said in May, when it launched a 1.1671 trillion won rights offering, that it would invest 589.6 billion won of the proceeds in Absolics' glass substrate business. The 281 billion won investment is the first deployment of funds under that plan. About 308.6 billion won remains to be invested in stages through 2028 depending on the progress of the business.
Of the total 589.6 billion won investment, 472.6 billion won is allocated to capital expenditures (CAPEX) and 117 billion won to operating expenses (OPEX). CAPEX consists of 102.6 billion won for equipment investment, 237.5 billion won for commissioning costs and 132.5 billion won for manufacturing labor. OPEX consists of 42.8 billion won for administrative labor and 74.2 billion won for fees and other expenses. The funds will be used for customer evaluation and qualification at the Phase 1 plant in Georgia, as well as improvements in production yield and quality.
Absolics is pursuing commercialization of two types of glass substrates, Embedding and Non-Embedding products. Embedding products have completed preliminary evaluations of samples produced at its Georgia plant and are undergoing reliability testing. Non-Embedding products are participating in a project scheduled to select suppliers in the second half of the year.
"This investment is the first step in translating the funds secured in the first half into actual business results," an SKC official said. "We will continue to deploy the planned funds in stages to accelerate preparations for mass production and, through close cooperation with strategic partners, firmly establish our technological leadership in the next-generation semiconductor packaging market."