ANSAN — At the JWMT factory (formerly Joongwoo M-Tech) in the Banwol National Industrial Complex in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, on the 22nd of last month, more than 10 laser machines could be seen firing lasers onto glass panels inside the company's first plant. It was the first time JWMT, well known as a small but strong maker of glass substrates, had opened its factory to the media.
The laser process is the first step in turning glass into a semiconductor substrate. After a laser is fired at the glass to alter its material properties, the surface is repeatedly etched with various chemicals and cleaned. The result is a dense array of tiny holes, each less than 100 micrometers wide — about the thickness of a strand of hair — that serve as channels for electricity.
Glass substrates are seen as a "game changer" that could help Korea widen its lead in the semiconductor industry. More resistant to heat and less prone to warping than existing plastic substrates, they can boost data processing speed by more than 40% compared with conventional substrates. That is why packaging technology — which stacks chips like Lego bricks — is expected to reshape the next-generation semiconductor market, as fine processing for DRAM chips approaches its limits.
Park Sung-soo, CEO of JWMT, stressed on the 23rd that "packaging competitiveness will determine whether Korea can move beyond TSMC." The company has expanded the production capacity of its first Ansan plant from 36,000 panels a year to about 60,000, and has recently begun building a new plant in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, with an annual capacity of 360,000 panels, targeting operation in 2027. Samsung Electronics has also made an equity investment in JWMT.
Experts likewise believe the future of Korean manufacturing hinges on how many cutting-edge technologies like glass substrates the country can nurture. A senior business figure stressed the need for an industrial strategy tailored to each sector: "For the semiconductor industry, which is currently No. 1, we should support it in securing technology that can shake off pursuers. For industries like batteries, which have been eroded by China's volume offensive, we should help them survive by holding on to the No. 2 position. And for future strategic industries such as bio, we need growth measures on a separate track."
