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South Korea’s SKC, a maker of plastic films that is part of the same corporate group as one of Georgia’s largest foreign investors, is set to invest $473 million to locate a semiconductor parts venture at its existing plant in the state.
SKC is part of the SK Group, one of Korea’s massive industrial conglomerates known as chaebols. SK also is home to SK Innovation, which has invested $2.6 billion to put an electric-vehicle battery plant in Jackson County and plans to ramp up a second plant on the complex even further as demand grows.
SKC is a longstanding Georgia investor, setting up operations in Covington in 1996 to make polyester films for food and beverage packaging, medicine and other sectors. During the pandemic, the company began churning out plastic material to be used in face shields for frontline health workers. Back in Korea, SKC makes parts used in foldable electronic device screens. Its films also are used in solar modules, and while retooling its traditional sectors for sustainability (think recyclable films for bottle packaging), SKC is also reinventing its offerings to focus on future-facing sectors like rechargeable batteries and semiconductors.
That latter is what it is now bringing to Georgia amid a supply-chain crunch that has led to a global chip shortage, crimping supplies of cars, appliances and other goods.
SKC will hire 400 people in Newton County, mostly in high-tech roles, as it starts to produce the glass-based substrates for semiconductors, a specialty material that in a way is coming full circle in Georgia.
The material was developed partly through research by Sung Jin Kim, SKC’s director of new business development, who worked at Georgia Tech between 2012-15 as a research professor. He brought his research to fruition within what is now known as the Georgia Tech 3D Systems Packaging Research Center, where he was able to work with companies from across the semiconductor supply chain.
Dr. Kim said the material will help device manufacturers reduce power consumption and improve performance in mobile devices and computers through a scalable technology platform.
“Georgia will be a basecamp for SKC’s AI and high-speed data center semiconductor applications,” Dr. Kim said.
According to an Oct. 28 news release, seeds for this breakthrough had been planted in 1993, when the Georgia Research Alliance helped recruit the university’s first endowed chair in computer engineering and materials science. The alliance then invested in the beginnings of the packaging research center 20 years ago.
“This announcement is a prime example of how investments into our academic assets not only drive economic development in Georgia, but can also contribute to finding solutions to global problems,” said Pat Wilson, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, in the news release.
Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera said the university looked forward to helping develop homegrown experts to fill the company’s talent pipeline.
Read more about SKC’s presence in Georgia: Georgia’s Global Manufacturers Retool to Fight COVID-19
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