Doosan announces 970 billion won facility investment in South Korea and China

Plans 180 billion won new production line in Thailand, announced in April

Commits 2.3 trillion won to acquire SK Siltron stake in July

Pours 3.5 trillion won into semiconductors this year alone amid AI deceleration debate

Company sees long-term semiconductor demand as resilient

Aims to broaden business portfolio beyond core units

Doosan Group Chairman Park Jung-won (center) visits Doosan's Electronics Business Group facility in Jeungpyeong, North Chungcheong Province, in June to inspect the company's CCL product lineup. [Doosan]
Doosan Group Chairman Park Jung-won (center) visits Doosan's Electronics Business Group facility in Jeungpyeong, North Chungcheong Province, in June to inspect the company's CCL product lineup. [Doosan]

Doosan has been moving aggressively to expand its semiconductor business. This year alone, the conglomerate has committed more than 3 trillion won ($2.19 billion) to semiconductor-related ventures, including scaling up production of copper-clad laminate — commonly known as CCL — and acquiring a semiconductor wafer maker. The push comes even as debate grows over whether the pace of AI development is slowing, with Doosan apparently betting that long-term semiconductor demand will remain robust.

According to industry sources, Doosan has invested a total of 3.45 trillion won in semiconductor-related businesses so far this year. Of that, 1.15 trillion won has gone toward expanding CCL capacity. On Thursday, the company announced a 970 billion won facility investment in South Korea and China, and in April it unveiled plans to invest 180 billion won to build a new production line in Thailand.

CCL is a core material used in substrates for AI semiconductors. It is widely used in AI accelerators, network switches and optical modules that go into AI data centers.

Through this latest investment, Doosan will expand its domestic CCL production lines for optical modules and build a factory in China to manufacture CCL for AI accelerator network switches. The Thailand facility will focus primarily on producing high-performance CCL for network equipment.

Some of Doosan's CCL production lines are already running at utilization rates above 100 percent, driven by surging demand from the expansion of AI infrastructure. The company said the capacity additions will allow it to respond swiftly to customer orders while cementing its position as a CCL supplier with strong technological and production capabilities.

An image of Doosan's copper-clad laminate (CCL) product. [Doosan]
An image of Doosan's copper-clad laminate (CCL) product. [Doosan]

In July, Doosan invested 2.3 trillion won to acquire a 70.6 percent stake in SK Siltron, the only South Korean company with the technology to manufacture silicon wafers for semiconductors. SK Siltron ranks third globally in market share for 12-inch wafers.

Doosan fired the opening shot in its semiconductor portfolio push in 2022 with the acquisition of Doosan Tesna, a back-end semiconductor testing firm. This year's trillion-won-scale investments have allowed the group to complete a vertically integrated semiconductor operation spanning front-end materials — wafers and CCL — through to back-end testing.

The investments are drawing attention precisely because they were made amid growing calls for a slowdown in AI development. Major global AI companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI and Google DeepMind, have recently argued that the pace of AI advancement should be deliberately slowed, citing safety concerns among other reasons. Should those firms pull back on investment, demand for semiconductors used in data centers and other AI infrastructure could weaken.

An exterior view of SK Siltron's headquarters in Gumi. [SK Siltron]
An exterior view of SK Siltron's headquarters in Gumi. [SK Siltron]

Doosan pressed ahead regardless, judging that the current strength in semiconductor demand will hold over the long term. While global technology companies are voicing calls for restraint, each still needs to keep investing to advance its own AI models — and sustained investment points to an upward trajectory for semiconductor demand.

In fact, real-world semiconductor market demand continues to grow sharply. According to market research firm Omdia, the global semiconductor market posted double-digit quarter-on-quarter growth for four consecutive quarters from the third quarter of last year through the second quarter of this year.

A strong desire to broaden its business portfolio also factored into the trillion-won-scale investments. Past restructuring forced Doosan to divest several affiliates, leaving the group heavily reliant on Doosan Enerbility, which handles nuclear power plant components and power generation, and Doosan Bobcat, which makes compact construction equipment. Together, the two units accounted for well over 80 percent of Doosan Group's total sales last year.

Collaborative robots and fuel cells hold significant long-term potential as future growth engines, but their sales remain modest compared with the core businesses. Doosan Robotics, which develops collaborative robots, posted sales of just 33 billion won last year. Doosan Fuel Cell, which mass-produces fuel cells, recorded sales of 454.8 billion won for the same period.

Doosan concluded that investing in semiconductors was necessary to drive near-term revenue growth. SK Siltron, which Doosan acquired, posted annual sales of 2 trillion won and operating profit of 400 billion won last year. Doosan's Electronics Business Group, which runs the CCL business, recorded sales of 1.9 trillion won last year — an 86 percent increase from the previous year — and is expected to approach 3 trillion won in sales this year.


yeongdai@heraldcorp.com