[News Inside Companies] Warren Buffett's 'IMC Group' to Build Semiconductor Material Factory in Daegu

IMC Group (International Metalworking Companies), which decided to invest 130 billion KRW in Daegu to establish a semiconductor material manufacturing facility, is the world's second-largest cutting tool manufacturing group headquartered in Israel. It is also well-known as a company wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the investment firm owned by Warren Buffett.

In 2006, Berkshire Hathaway purchased 80% of IMC Group's shares from Steph Berthheimer, the founder of Iscar, for 5 billion USD, and in 2013, it acquired the remaining 20% for an additional 2.05 billion USD, thereby owning 100% of IMC's shares. IMC Group was the first investment Berkshire Hathaway made outside the United States.

Warren Buffett [Photo by Yonhap News]

The origin of IMC Group is the cutting tool business 'Iscar,' started in 1952 by founder Berthheimer in the backyard of his home in Nahariya, northern Israel. Iscar, which grew from a family business in the 1950s to the core of IMC Group, mainly produces carbide cutting tools used in automotive companies such as GM and Ford, as well as in heavy industry, aerospace, and steel industries. The company has also expanded into the tungsten powder business used in semiconductor specialty gas manufacturing. Tungsten powder is a key material for specialty gases used in semiconductor processes and is managed as a strategic material by countries worldwide. With the explosive increase in semiconductor demand driven by AI, autonomous vehicles, the Internet of Things (IoT), and data center growth, the demand for tungsten powder products, a core material for semiconductor specialty gases, is also continuously rising. The investment agreement IMC Group signed with Daegu City on the 7th is for the construction of a tungsten powder manufacturing facility.

IMC Group currently has over 130 subsidiaries in 60 countries worldwide. In Korea, it has a subsidiary called DaeguTec, which was established by acquiring Daehan Joongseok in 1998 and changing its name. DaeguTec, founded as Daehan Joongseok in 1916 and incorporated in 1952, is Asia's largest carbide cutting tool manufacturer. At the groundbreaking ceremony for its second plant held in March 2011, Chairman Buffett attended and attracted attention. At that time, Chairman Buffett said, "DaeguTec should continue to expand, and this is just the beginning," hinting at the possibility of additional investments.

Meanwhile, with this investment, IMC Group has invested a total of 297.5 billion KRW in Daegu over three occasions since 2008.