According to Korean media TheElec, the glass substrate of Absolics, a subsidiary of SKC, is about to gain customer approval, and the end customer that will eventually use the substrate will be AMD.
Sources revealed that Absolics is expected to announce this progress during its third-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday (5th). According to reports, SK Group will emphasize the importance of its chip business led by SK Hynix at the meeting, which will be attended by several new CEOs.
SK Group’s traditional main businesses are chemicals and batteries, but these two businesses are currently facing a slowdown. Therefore, glass substrates are an area of great importance and extreme concern for SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won.
However, Absolics seems to be considering slowing down its expansion plans. The company completed a 12,000-square-meter factory in Georgia last year and originally planned to add an additional 60,000 square meters as an expansion plan. To add 60,000 tons of production capacity, it will cost about 500 billion won in the next two years, of which at least 200 billion won will be needed next year.
Given the current demand for glass substrates, SKC believes that adding these capacities would be too hasty because even if AMD approves the use of these substrates, the demand is still too small, and another potential customer, AWS, has postponed quality testing indefinitely.
In addition, SKC is also evaluating the relocation of the copper foil business operated by subsidiary SK Nexilis to Uzbekistan. These relocation costs may affect further investment by Absolics.
Absolics is a joint venture between SKC and Applied Materials, with SKC holding a 70.1% stake.
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