默克韩国负责人称AI存储瓶颈将延续，半导体材料重要性提升

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Merck Korea President: "Semiconductor Materials Moving From Supporting Role to Main Character"
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3D Transition in Semiconductors Drives Demand for Conductivity, Dielectric and Heat Dissipation Solutions Across Merck's 12 South Korean R&D and Production Hubs
KIMGEON
Published 2026.07.05 10:55
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Kim Woo-kyu, President of Merck Korea. (Photo: THE ELEC)
The memory bottleneck is expected to continue for the time being due to the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors. This is because demand for DRAM, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and NAND flash is growing rapidly as AI infrastructure investment expands, centering on graphics processing units (GPUs) and central processing units (CPUs). Some observers also predict that if the sharp rise in prices is prolonged, research and development aimed at replacing existing memory technologies could accelerate.
"With GPUs leading and CPUs assisting, I think the situation where memory has become an absolute bottleneck will last for the next few years," said Kim Woo-kyu, president of Merck Korea. "However, if it becomes extremely expensive, alternative technologies may emerge somewhere, even if only partially, and if scalability is achieved, it could become a threatening presence to current technology."
The memory boom is also demanding changes in the materials industry. Following NAND, as DRAM and logic semiconductors transition to 3D structures, issues regarding conductivity, dielectric constant (permittivity), heat dissipation and power have emerged as core challenges. As it becomes difficult to achieve performance improvement and power reduction solely through miniaturization, materials are entering an area that dictates device performance and reliability.
"In the past, materials companies mostly played a supporting role, meeting the required specifications from behind while equipment companies and processes took the lead," Kim said. "In the future, as 3D structures become more complex and issues with dielectric constant, conductivity and heat dissipation grow, I think materials will advance toward a co-starring role."
The areas Merck is focusing on are materials that remain inside the device and directly affect performance and reliability. Thin-film materials, insulating materials, high-k materials and atomic-level control materials that suppress electron leakage are representative examples. Merck supplies materials used throughout the entire wafer fabrication process and is also conducting extensive research on metal-based materials.
Advanced packaging is also cited as a growth sector. As back-end process technologies such as chiplets, 2.5D/3D packaging and HBM stacking grow in importance to improve AI semiconductor performance, demand for patterning materials, chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) materials, underfill and bonding materials is also expected to increase. The non-destructive defect inspection equipment from UnitySC, which Merck acquired, could also see increased utility in the packaging field.
Merck Korea operates South Korea as a key hub for its electronics materials business. The total number of employees is approximately 1,900. Most of the 12 sites in the country are related to the Electronics business sector. In Merck Korea, the Electronics business accounts for the largest share in terms of revenue, number of employees and site scale.
Domestic investment is expanding beyond production to R&D and application support. Merck secured a precursor research laboratory in Daejeon through the acquisition of ShinFam and M Chemical. It also opened an SOD Application Lab in Anseong. In the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) sector, the company continues its domestic R&D investment. The South Korean hub is responsible for supporting research and production not only for domestic customers but also for major clients in Taiwan.
The supply chain strategy is 'Local for Local.' This is a method of reducing supply chain risks by establishing production networks and support systems in regions where customers are located. For high-k precursors such as hafnium and zirconium, production facilities are located in Eumseong, South Korea, and a small-scale production facility was recently set up in Wisconsin, USA. The strategy is to secure multiple production hubs for core items to prepare for supply disruptions.
Merck is also leaving open the possibility of additional investments and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in South Korea. "Merck is looking deeply at the continuously and dynamically changing market conditions," Kim said. "We are willing to actively review portfolios that fit our strategy at any time, and we have been doing so."
Q&A
Q: I understand you hold a Ph.D. in chemistry. What was your specific major?
A: I majored in inorganic chemistry. My main research involved synthesizing and analyzing the characteristics of metal compounds, which are widely used as precursors these days. When I returned to the company after graduation, I couldn't utilize my major right away. Later, Merck acquired the company, and as Merck subsequently acquired Versum Materials, the precursor business became a major division. Naturally, I stepped back into the field I had studied in the past.
Q: When did you receive your Ph.D.?
A: I received it in 1997. After completing my military service, I worked in Korea for about four years before resigning and going abroad to study, so I started a bit late.
Q: Which company did you return to after your Ph.D.?
A: Originally, I worked at a German company called Hoechst. They made their first investment in Korea to build a factory in Ansan, which was an early-stage business for positive photoresists. After working there for four years, I left to study inorganic chemistry in the United States, and later rejoined the U.S. branch of that same company. Although I have worked in this industry for a long time, you could say I have essentially stayed at one company.
Q: How did that company connect with Merck?
A: The semiconductor and printing-related businesses were spun off from Hoechst and sold to a Swiss company called Clariant. Later, it was carved out again and became independent as a company called AZ Electronic Materials. Merck acquired AZ in 2014. That is how I naturally joined Merck.
Q: How did the atmosphere of the semiconductor industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s differ from today?
A: Even back then, we knew the semiconductor industry was important. In the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. led the market, and then there was a transition period where memory and advanced logic shifted to Japan. During the dot-com bubble era, the telecommunications sector benefited, and while semiconductor manufacturers also caught some of that tailwind, I remember it didn't receive the massive spotlight it does today.
Q: Now, the semiconductor industry is receiving immense attention due to AI. What kind of changes does this bring from the perspective of a materials company like Merck?
A: Merck traditionally started in pharmaceuticals, and currently, the largest business in the group is Life Science. Healthcare is also an important business. However, with the arrival of AI, the Electronics business, especially the semiconductor business, is gaining a lot of attention within our global leadership and the family. I feel the world has changed a lot.
Q: What is the proportion of the Electronics business within Merck Korea?
A: In Korea, the Electronics business sector is the largest. It accounts for the biggest share in terms of revenue, number of employees and the number of sites.
Q: How are the domestic production and R&D hubs structured?
A: Currently, the total number of Merck Korea employees is around 1,900, operating across 12 sites. Most of them belong to the Electronics business sector. For Life Science, we have a demo lab called M Lab in Songdo, as well as a distribution center. In Daejeon, we are building a factory to manufacture actual products with an investment of 300 million euros, and it is near completion.
Q: How is the R&D investment in the Electronics sector progressing?
A: We have invested heavily in R&D recently. In the case of ShinFam, it was an acquisition of the chemical business unit spun off from M Chemical. We strengthened our capabilities by acquiring not only production facilities but also the research center located in Daejeon. We are developing various new precursors together with the global R&D team. We also continue to invest in OLED R&D, and we opened the SOD Application Lab in Anseong two years ago. Our goal is to conduct development in close proximity to domestic customers and provide research support locally.
Q: Does that mean there is a difference compared to foreign companies that only do manufacturing in Korea?
A: That's correct. Doing production locally is something we obviously must do, as customers consider it a top priority. However, I believe we can only succeed if we can provide research and application support in real time. I communicated this perspective heavily to global leadership, and it has been reflected, leading to continuous research investments.
Q: Is there any other country in Asia that handles both development and production like Korea?
A: Asia accounts for the largest share of Electronics materials. Among them, the core countries from Merck's perspective are Korea, Taiwan and China. Korea and Taiwan provide not only local support but also regional support. China tends to focus primarily on supporting customers within China.
Q: Does Korea support Taiwanese customers as well?
A: We also conduct research and production support for important Taiwanese customers here in Korea.
Q: Is there no Electronics R&D function in Europe?
A: Europe was not originally a strong region for semiconductors. However, for next-generation R&D, we have a development laboratory at our headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany. There, next-generation technology development is underway, merging IC technology with optronics and photonics-related technologies.
Q: Merck has acquired AZ, Versum, M Chemical and UnitySC. The integration process must not have been easy.
A: It is actually very complex. Merck is a company with a long history; it went without much change for a while but has transformed at a rapid pace over the past 20 years. The Electronics sector also shifted rapidly within a decade from an era when liquid crystals were almost the sole technology to OLED and semiconductor materials. Through various M&As, not only technologies and production facilities but also employees come in. Since the customs and cultures learned at previous companies differ, unifying them is the key to successful integration.
Q: Did acquisitions continue after you took office as president?
A: When I arrived, it was the early stage of the Versum Materials integration. Since I took office after the announcement was made, I handled most of the practical integration. We acquired M Chemical about three and a half years ago, and UnitySC about a year ago. In essence, three integrations have been running consecutively. I paid a lot of attention to integrating people, mixing cultures and exchanging management.
Q: Geopolitical risks have increased recently. Is the demand for local production of materials also becoming stronger?
A: Merck has long prepared its production networks under the philosophy of 'Local for Local' so that we can supply directly to customers within countries where major semiconductor manufacturing takes place. Rather than predicting geopolitical risks, this was an effort to ensure supply chain stability and reduce supply chain distance. As a result, we have become able to respond faster to geopolitical instability or raw material supply blocks.
Q: If a problem occurs at a specific factory, is alternative production possible?
A: For strategic items with high demand and importance, our general strategy is to prepare production capacity at more than one site. For example, we have production facilities in Eumseong for hafnium and zirconium, which are high-k material precursors. Recently, we also established a small-scale production facility in Wisconsin, USA. This was because we needed identical production equipment in the U.S., even though we already have it in Korea.
Q: Is the U.S. facility intended to respond to U.S. customers?
A: Yes, that's correct. However, it also provides flexibility to quickly import and substitute if there is a shortage, delay or gap in supply on this side.
Q: You also serve as an honorary ambassador for foreign investment in Korea. What is your role?
A: I was recommended by Invest KOREA and appointed by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources. My role is to share cases of investment in Korea with foreign direct investment companies like Merck, and to explain on behalf of the government why investing in Korea is beneficial.
Q: What are foreign companies most curious about when considering investing in Korea?
A: There is a lot of fear when investing in a new country. They often do not know the regulations well, and there are many things they don't know about labor-related matters. That causes hesitation. Merck already successfully operates multiple sites and invests continuously. When they see such examples, they gain confidence that Korea is a place they can trust. I often explain the government's active incentive system and the channels available for addressing grievances. I mainly introduce organizations like KOTRA.
Q: Is Merck's investment scale in Korea considered large in the electronic materials field?
A: I believe that judgment is correct. Even among various foreign-affiliated companies, I think Merck ranks near the top.
Q: How do you view the current AI memory boom?
A: I think Jensen Huang's visit to Korea implies a lot. He is undoubtedly one of the smartest people in the world, but I am not sure if he knew two years ago that memory supply and demand would become such an issue. Looking at the trend, it seems he saw that memory would become a bottleneck. With GPUs leading and CPUs assisting, I think the situation where memory acts as an absolute bottleneck will last for the next few years.
Q: Is there a possibility that excessively high memory prices might stimulate the development of alternative technologies?
A: When prices become very expensive, alternative technologies may emerge somewhere, even if only partially. If that segment gains scalability, it could become a threat to current technology. However, I don't think it will be easy for the time being.
Q: Do you believe this boom can accelerate the development of next-generation technologies?
A: That's correct. Customers now have much stronger capability to reinvest in R&D. Because they hold so much cash right now, they have the financial leeway to spend money on next-generation technology development, which I believe also serves as an opportunity to prepare for the future.
Q: Does the capacity expansion of memory manufacturers translate into opportunities for materials companies?
A: There are expectations for revenue expansion. However, there is a gap between the situation of customers as reported in the media and our own growth expectations. Overall, though, I agree that it is on an upward trend.
Q: As semiconductors transition to 3D structures, what changes from a materials perspective?
A: NAND transitioned to 3D a long time ago, and the keyword for everything now is 3D. Moving to 3D, conductivity and device heat dissipation—which were not as severe in the past—have become the ultimate problems. As data centers expand, they generate a lot of heat and consume enormous amounts of power. Low-power, low-heat architectures are necessary, but I believe the first thing that can be done is resolving it through materials.
Q: DRAM and logic are also moving toward 3D structures. What materials can Merck contribute?
A: We supply products to almost every unit process used in the wafer processing cycle. What affects device performance are the products that actually remain inside the device. Most of them will be thin-film materials. Materials that provide flawless insulation, increase the dielectric constant, and offer atomic-level control to prevent electron leakage are critical. They can be silicon-based or metal-based. In the case of metals, you can assume we are researching almost everything except radioactive isotopes.
Q: Could you pick a materials group where high growth is expected?
A: It's difficult to point out a specific product, and most of this information is already widely known. Ultimately, materials that remain in the device to maintain performance and provide reliability are crucial. We see continuous massive potential in front-end processes, and we think the growth rate in packaging will be even larger than that of front-end processes.
Q: What products are you offering in the packaging field?
A: We have patterning materials and CMP materials. For CMP, many planarization processes are being added in packaging as well, and technologies are transferring from front-end to back-end processes. UnitySC is an organization we call MNI within Merck, and they possess equipment that detects defects rapidly via non-destructive methods in the packaging sector. I think there is high demand for that. We also expect underfill and bonding materials to continue growing.
Q: Is there a possibility that investment or M&A will continue in Korea moving forward?
A: Merck is looking deeply at the continuously and dynamically changing market conditions. We are willing to actively review portfolios that fit our strategy at any time, and we have been doing so.
gun@thelec.kr
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