YapX Acquires Technium, a Domestic Developer of Core Materials for Photoresists

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] KOSDAQ-listed company Yapex has acquired Technium. Technium is a company that succeeded in domestic mass production technology of high-purity photoresist core materials, which had been monopolized by Japanese companies in the semiconductor process. It is expected that combining Technium's research and development (R&D) competitiveness with Yapex's manufacturing technology will create a synergy effect.

On the 9th, Yapex announced that it acquired a total of 54.02% of Technium's shares through participation in a paid-in capital increase and acquisition of bonds with warrants (BW), completing mutual consultations on securing the status of the largest shareholder and joint management rights.

Technium, acquired by Yapex, is a chemical material development company established in 2019. It supplies core materials for photoresists used in semiconductor processes. Recently, with the wave of domestic semiconductor material localization centered on major domestic companies, Yapex plans to strengthen the competitiveness of the semiconductor industry by utilizing Technium's self-mass production technology of core photoresist materials, which is considered an essential semiconductor process.

Last year, Technium developed a ‘multifunctional electrolyte additive’ for secondary batteries. The product completed research and development and prototype production last year and has been supplied since this year. Technium's new growth business flagship product, the multifunctional electrolyte additive for secondary batteries, was developed as multifunctional, unlike existing special-purpose secondary battery additives such as HF scavengers, electrode protectors, and gas suppressants. It has attracted attention from the development stage due to its high efficiency and price competitiveness.

Through the acquisition of Technium, Yapex internalizes differentiated R&D competitiveness in the semiconductor photoresist and secondary battery industry sectors. It plans to integrate this with its own direct manufacturing system. To ensure that Technium's IT industry new material R&D competitiveness leads to Yapex's manufacturing technology, the companies will expand new growth engines in various ways, including joint patent ownership procedures. To maximize business synergy between the two companies, Technium CEO Baek Yong-gu will also concurrently serve as the head of Yapex's research institute.

Choi Si-myung, CEO of Yapex, said, “With the acquisition of Technium as a turning point, Yapex now possesses source technology and a manufacturing competitiveness system that leads trends in core materials for major domestic IT industry sectors such as semiconductor photoresists, secondary batteries, and displays.”