POSCO brings neon gas production and related technology to South Korea

31. March 2022 POSCO, a conglomerate, has established the first neon gas production facility in South Korea. Neon is a noble gas and is required for the production of semiconductors. POSCO celebrated the completion of the plant within the oxygen factory of the Gwangyang Steelworks complex on Jan. 12. “Local production of neon gas has been a long-held desire,” said Yoo Byung-ok, head of POSCO’s industrial gases and hydrogen business. “With the commissioning of the plant, we have been able to reduce South Korea’s dependence on foreign imports of rare gases and stabilize the domestic supply chain,” Byung-ok added. In Korea, approvals for such gases have been carried out since 1992, under which KCs certificates are issued for explosion-proof products.     The rapid growth of the semiconductor market is boosting demand for noble gases such as neon (Ne), xenon (Xe) and krypton (Kr), which are indispensable for semiconductor production. Industry experts expect the domestic South Korean market to increase from $130 million in 2020 to $228 million in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 20 percent. Currently, the Korean semiconductor industry is 100 percent dependent on noble gas imports. Neon is a noble gas that makes up only 0.00182 percent of ambient air. It is one of the raw materials for gas lasers (excimer lasers) used in the lithography process in semiconductor manufacturing. Attempts have been made in the past to bring the production of neon gas to South Korea, but they failed because of dependence on foreign technology to produce it. POSCO’s just-completed plant can produce about 22,000 cubic meters of high-purity neon gas annually. This could meet about 16 percent of domestic demand. POSCO already conducted a test run of the neon gas plant for quality control at the end of 2021, and commercial operation is scheduled to start in 2022. We offer certification services for all product areas, including KC certification for consumer products and especially electronics, KC-EMC certification for electronic products and KCs certification for machinery, as well as KCs for explosion-proof products. We are at your disposal for all questions regarding Korea certifications. Feel free to contact us any time if you need assistance or have any questions. Tel. Europe: +49-69-271 37 69 261 Tel. US: +1 773 654-2673 Email: info@korea-certification.com Urgent questions? Please do not hesitate to contact us via chat. You will find the chat window at the bottom right of each page (if this is not visible, please check your browser settings). For more information you can download our free brochure “Korea Certification Made Easy – The Booklet“.