Equipment for a 12-inch semiconductor test bed is shown in this photo provided by the National Nanofab Center on March 16, 2021.
SEOUL, July 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s imports of Japanese etching gas fell below US$10 million for the first time in 17 years as a result of the efforts made by the government and the industry to develop production capabilities and diversify supply channels.
Etching gas, also known as hydrogen fluoride, is one of the three products that the Japanese government imposed export restrictions on against South Korea in July 2019.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy reported a 86 percent decrease in Japanese etching gas imports between 2018 and 2020, plunging from $66.9 million to $9.4 million.
South Korea’s independent production of hydrogen fluoride became possible after South Korean manufacturers Soulbrain and SK Materials expanded production.
Semiconductor manufacturers in Asia’s fourth-largest economy replaced Japanese imports with Chinese, Taiwanese, and American products.
Its dependence on Japanese high sensitivity resists for EUV lithography, used primarily for manufacturing next-generation semiconductors, has also dwindled.
The Korea International Trade Association reported that the country’s Japanese resist imports between January and May of this year stood at 85.2 percent, which was 3.4 percentage points lower than last year’s 88.6 percent.
Considering that imports reached 91.9 percent in the same period in 2019, prior to Japan’s export restrictions, South Korea’s Japanese resist imports have dropped by 6.7 percentage points.
“Japan’s export restrictions have failed, since South Korea sustained almost no damage in the last two years,” said Kim Yang-pang, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
