Power Semiconductor Company 'Aprosemicon' to Invest 60 Billion Won in Gumi

Gyeongbuk Province and Gumi City Sign Investment Agreement

"Headquarters to Relocate to Gwangju by Next Year"

Gyeongbuk Province and Gumi City are solidifying the semiconductor industry supply chain and promoting the clustering of related industries by attracting next-generation power semiconductor technology leading companies for the first time since the designation of the ‘Gumi Semiconductor Advanced Strategic Industry Specialized Complex’ in July.

On the 12th, Gyeongbuk Province and Gumi City signed a memorandum of understanding focused on establishing a GaN (Gallium Nitride)-based power semiconductor production facility at GumiCO, attended by Lee Dal-hee, Vice Governor for Economy of Gyeongbuk Province, Kim Jang-ho, Mayor of Gumi, and Lim Jong-hyun, CEO of AProSemicon Co., Ltd.

Gumi 3 Industrial Complex

Through this investment agreement, AProSemicon Co., Ltd. plans to relocate its headquarters from Gwangju to Gumi by 2024, invest over 60 billion KRW, and create more than 20 new jobs. The company aims to produce GaN-based power semiconductor epiwafers and supply them first to secondary battery charge/discharge equipment.

Epiwafers are a core component of GaN semiconductors and have mostly been imported. However, AProSemicon has established an epiwafer production system by not only designing GaN semiconductors but also introducing Korea’s first MOCVD (Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) equipment for 8-inch GaN power semiconductor epiwafer production in 2021. The company meets all the quality, uniformity, and yield requirements demanded by semiconductor foundries, securing productivity and price competitiveness for GaN power semiconductors.

APROSemicon was established in 2020 as a spin-off from the semiconductor division of APro Co., Ltd., a secondary battery equipment company. Initially, the goal was to internalize power semiconductors for APro’s secondary battery equipment, but recently the company has expanded its market areas to mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), and small home appliances.

GaN semiconductors are attracting attention as next-generation power semiconductor materials due to their superior high voltage and high heat resistance compared to silicon semiconductors.

Through this investment, the company plans to import two MOCVD systems from the German semiconductor equipment company Aixtron and expand GaN epiwafer production capacity to 20,000 units annually by 2025.

This agreement is significant as it marks the first achievement in attracting companies with next-generation semiconductor core technologies since the designation of the Gumi Semiconductor Advanced Strategic Industry Specialized Complex.

Gyeongbuk Province is making every effort to maintain a super-gap in the semiconductor field by conducting national strategic research and development, fostering semiconductor specialists, and creating an ecosystem for semiconductor materials and components.

Lee Dal-hee, Vice Governor for Economy of Gyeongbuk Province, emphasized, “This investment is like a primer attracting globally competitive companies to Gumi, coinciding with the designation of the Gumi Semiconductor Advanced Strategic Industry Specialized Complex. Through AProSemicon’s power semiconductor investment and related industries’ investments in Gumi, we will create a semiconductor ecosystem.”