ASML and Samsung Electronics will jointly invest one trillion won ($762 million) in setting up a research center in Korea dedicated to ultrafine semiconductor manufacturing processes utilizing next-generation extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines including the newest high-NA system.

The investment ratio of each company as well as the location of the center has not been disclosed.

The partnership marks the Dutch chip equipment company’s first overseas research center jointly built with a chipmaker.

The project was announced Tuesday as Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made a tour of the clean room at the headquarters of ASML in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won accompanied Yoon, who was the first foreign leader to visit the company’s clean room which is used by chip facilities to prevent fine particles from entering. 

“The latest partnership between Samsung Electronics and ASML will act as a stepping stone for Korea to secure an upper hand in the ultrafine manufacturing process of chips which is increasingly becoming competitive,” said Korea’s Minister for Trade Ahn Duk-geun.

SK hynix also forged a partnership with ASML to work together on hydrogen recycling technology to enhance the energy efficiency of the EUVs.

“The partnership between SK hynix and ASML is expected to establish an eco-friendly ecosystem for chip equipment,” Ahn said.

“The latest alliance between Korea, which is strong in chip manufacturing, and the Netherlands, which is strong in chip equipment, will contribute greatly to the global chip supply chain and the innovation of technology .”

The two countries also agreed to create a human resource exchange program to foster chip talents between the Netherlands’ Eindhoven University of Technology and Korea’s KAIST, UNIST and Sungkyunkwan University. Chip companies like Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, IMEC, Brainport Development, ASML, ASM and NXP will also participate.

The program aims to foster some 500 talents in the chip industry over the next five years, according to the Trade Ministry. Korean participants will get to visit the headquarters of ASML and NXP among others.

ASML, which spun off from Philips in 1984, holds a unique yet strong position in the global chip industry as it exclusively manufactures EUV lithography machines which are essential in producing advanced chips. The machine which costs up to 300 billion won per unit is highly coveted by global chipmakers including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.

Korea is a big market for ASML as it made up 29 percent of the company’s revenue last year, coming in second after Taiwan which houses TMSC.

The Dutch company last year pledged to invest 240 billion won in Korea to build a chip cluster dubbed Hwaseong Campus in Gyeonggi comprising of a local repair center and a training facility.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]