IMEC Chairman "Scheduled to Meet Lee Jae-yong... Deepening Collaboration with Samsung"

Luke Van den Hove, Chairman of Imec, Holds Press Conference
Also Expected to Meet Kwak Nojeong, President of SK Hynix

Luke Van den Hove, Chairman and CEO of Imec, emphasized collaboration with Samsung Electronics and announced that he is scheduled to meet with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong soon.

At a press conference held on the 18th at the Grand Intercontinental Parnas Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Chairman Van den Hove said, "Since Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited Imec two years ago, we have been meeting consistently and continuously discussing current and future cooperation plans," adding, "The level of collaboration with Samsung is deepening, and I am also scheduled to meet with Chairman Lee this time."

Imec is the largest non-profit comprehensive semiconductor research institute in Europe, jointly established by Belgium, France, and the Netherlands in 1984. It operates as an industry-academia-research consortium and includes major universities in the European Union (EU) and leading semiconductor companies worldwide. It has been closely cooperating with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix since the early 2000s.

Luke Van den Hove, Chairman and CEO of Imec, is presenting key research achievements at a press conference held on the 18th at the Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

Chairman Van den Hove previously met with Chairman Lee Jae-yong in June 2022 during Lee’s visit to Belgium, where they discussed the latest technologies and research and development (R&D) directions in the semiconductor field. In October of last year, he exchanged views on the latest semiconductor technologies with Kwak No-jeong, President and CEO of SK Hynix, who visited Imec’s headquarters.

Chairman Van den Hove explained, "During this visit to Korea, I also plan to meet with President Kwak No-jeong," adding, "We are collaborating with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix on technologies expected to be commercialized in 5 to 10 years, such as modules (building blocks), next-generation devices, and C-FET." He further predicted, "In the future, the memory portion will increase within logic chips, or memory will evolve to be closer to processors."

Imec also announced major research achievements. First, it will invest 2.5 billion euros in two phases to expand production capacity. Through fab expansion, approximately 100 additional units of the Netherlands-based ASML’s state-of-the-art extreme ultraviolet (EUV) equipment, 'High-NA EUV,' will be installed. Additionally, Imec plans to promote long-term research and innovation by collaborating with more than 200 universities and companies worldwide and to build a semiconductor ecosystem. Chairman Van den Hove stated, "Cross-border collaboration is greatly aiding the advancement of semiconductor technology," and added, "In a situation where decoupling continues, conducting R&D separately will significantly slow down progress, so international cooperation is necessary."