OCI Holdings has established a joint venture with a Japanese chemical specialist to target the global market in the semiconductor core materials sector.

OCI Holdings announced on the 17th that its subsidiary OCI TerraSus (formerly OCI M) held a groundbreaking ceremony for a joint venture polysilicon factory for semiconductors with the Japanese chemical company Tokuyama (社) at the Samalaju Industrial Park in Sarawak, Malaysia, on the 16th. Tokuyama is the world's third-largest producer of polysilicon for semiconductors.

Guests including OCI Holdings Chairman Lee Woo-hyun (second from the left), Vice Chairman Kim Taek-jung (third from the right), and Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari are taking a commemorative photo at the OTSM groundbreaking ceremony. / Courtesy of OCI Holdings

The joint venture between the two companies is named OTSM (OCI Tokuyama Semiconductor Materials). OCI TerraSus and Tokuyama each hold 50% equity. The two companies plan to invest a total of $435 million (approximately 600 billion won) to produce polysilicon for semiconductors.

Until now, cooperation between Korean and Japanese corporations in the semiconductor sector has primarily focused on finished goods or equipment. This is the first joint venture in the materials sector (excluding chemicals used in the manufacturing process). Attending the groundbreaking were more than 300 people, including key figures from politics and business, such as OCI Holdings Chairman Lee Woo-hyun, OCI Holdings Vice Chairman Kim Taek-jung, OCI TerraSus President Yang Jae-yong, OTSM President Choi Seong-gil, Tokuyama President Hiroshi Yokota, and Sarawak Governor Taib Mahmud.

The new OTSM factory is set to be built on approximately 40,000 pyeong of idle land within OCI TerraSus, with completion and commissioning expected in the first half of 2027, then planning to produce and sell 8,000 tons of polysilicon for semiconductors annually starting in 2029 after obtaining customer approval (Process Change Notification).

OCI Holdings is already producing 4,700 tons of polysilicon for semiconductors annually at the OCI Gunsan plant, which can create synergies, and it expects no trouble in securing customers as the global semiconductor market grows.

OCI Holdings Chairman Lee Woo-hyun noted, "Polysilicon for semiconductors produced by OTSM is receiving high interest from major customers in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan," and added, "In the future, OCI Holdings plans to proactively respond to the growing global semiconductor demand and continuously enhance its competitiveness in the semiconductor market through collaboration with Tokuyama and Sarawak."