(Unofficial translation)

Fellow Koreans, residents of Chungcheongnam-do Province,  

Today, I join all Koreans in congratulating MEMC Korea Company upon the dedication of its second silicon wafer factory.

I welcome Taiwan’s GlobalWafers Chairperson and CEO Doris Hsu who is joining us here at today’s dedication. I would like to commend MEMC Korea, its President Cho Chan-rae and employees for completing the construction of the second factory, which sits on 10,000 square meters. 

MEMC Korea and GlobalWafers set the goal of doubling the production of silicon wafers through a second factory and have made a bold decision to invest a total of US$460 million by next year. Such daring, preemptive private investment in Korea in the field of silicon wafers, the core materials for semiconductors, carries all the more significance as it is by a foreign-based multinational. 

It will not only help secure the stable supply of key materials but also help revitalize the local economy and create jobs. Moreover, Korea’s attractive conditions for investment can be promoted around the world. All of this is expected to create an investment effect of “killing three birds with one stone.”

I am grateful to the Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Government and Governor Yang Seung-jo for providing active support. Let’s applaud and encourage all the relevant officials who have brought this good news to the people.  

Fellow Koreans, 

A silicon wafer is a disk upon which semiconductor integrated circuits are 
etched. If comparing industrial demand to our diet, semiconductors are rice and wafers paddies. Wafers are essential materials for manufacturing semiconductors. However, Korea has heavily depended on imports thus far.

Korea’s semiconductor manufacturers now get about 65 percent of their needed silicon wafers from overseas. About 9 percent of those imports can be replaced by domestic products once MEMC Korea’s second factory adds to production. It will be a critical juncture for the increase of self-sufficiency in key materials for semiconductors. 

I hope that this investment and the dedication of the second factory today will serve as a catalyst for more vibrant private investments in materials, components and equipment industries throughout the country.

Completion of MEMC Korea’s second plant today has yet another huge significance: The fact that a foreign-invested firm has expanded to a second factory related to key materials will let the whole world see that investing in Korea is attractive and safe.

During discussions with representatives of foreign-invested companies earlier this year, I said, “When foreign businesses invest in Korea, they are our companies.” 

With the sense that foreign-invested companies are also our companies, the Government renders preferential treatment to them. Rent-free industrial sites are provided in foreign investment zones, and various other incentives are given, including tax benefits for overseas professionals and streamlined procedures for their stay in Korea. In particular, we greatly welcome foreign investments in materials, components and equipment and have increased the proportion of cash grants to as much as 40 percent of investments. 

As a consequence, foreign investments in Korea hit a record high of US$26.9 billion last year amid a decrease in foreign investments across the globe. Also encouraging is the fact that foreign investments in materials, components and equipment are on the rise. Our country is expected to reach its inbound investment goal of US$20 billion this year. 

Korea is wide open to foreign-invested companies. We always welcome them and pledge yet again to stand with them.

Fellow Koreans, 

Over the past four months, domestic businesses and the Government have stepped up our efforts to expand domestic production and replace imports so that supply and demand of key materials, components and equipment remain stable.
 
Domestic production capacity of liquid hydrogen fluoride has doubled, and one of the firms in need of that chemical has been conducting related tests. Construction of new plants to produce hydrogen fluoride gas and fluorinated polyimides is underway with completion before the end of this year as the goal. They will soon be completed and begin mass production from next year. A new plant for the production of blank masks has been completed and is already manufacturing prototypes. 

The Government is doing all it can to stabilize supply and demand for core materials, components and equipment. It immediately established a center to support supply and demand responses by businesses, and it is striving to quickly solve difficulties that businesses face by making it easier to implement a special extended work week that surpasses the 52-hour limit, approving the expansion of existing factories or the construction of new ones and providing financial assistance. Special accounts were created in next year’s budget plan by revising the special act to promote material, part and equipment businesses. The related funding will more than double next year to reach 2.1 trillion won.

The presidential committee to promote industry competitiveness in materials, components and equipment, which was launched in October, will play a central role in strongly pushing for the establishment of cooperation models between businesses and improvements in related regulations. The Government’s policy to support materials, components and equipment industries will apply equally to foreign-invested enterprises. I hope that they will invest more and increase their production and R&D activities in Korea.

Fellow Koreans and Chungcheongnam-do residents, 

The semiconductor industry is the buttress of our country’s manufacturing sector. Korea will take a leap forward to become a comprehensive semiconductor powerhouse specialized in both memory and system chips. It will also become the world’s biggest market for semiconductor-related materials, components and equipment businesses.

If the stable supply of materials, components and equipment is guaranteed on top of our semiconductor industry’s competitiveness, the Republic of Korea –
the semiconductor manufacturing powerhouse – will not be shaken by anyone. 

With the completion of this second factory in Cheonan today, Chungcheongnam-do’s employment figures have improved and its economy has become more vibrant. Chungcheongnam-do has now become an attractive investment destination, coveted even by foreign companies. 

I extend my gratitude once more to MEMC Korea and GlobalWafers for investing in Korea after recognizing its potential and the capacity for growth within its semiconductor industry. 

I hope investments will move beyond semiconductor materials and expand further into various other areas. I look forward to the vitality of the Republic of Korea’s economy vibrantly radiating from Chungcheongnam-do.

Thank you.