Hanwha Eyes on New Materials Business

South Korea's Hanwha Group is to promote a business related to Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) glass, a core new material for liquid crystal display (LCD) used to make displays and smartphones.

Hanwha L&C, securing 165,300 square meters (approximately 50,000 pyung) of land in Eumseong, north Choong-cheong province, will begin commercial production of ITO glasses.

In addition to this, with a joint development efforts with a U.S.-based company specializes in materials business, it will focus on developing new materials such as carbon nanomaterials, and foster the photovoltaic business as a new future growth engine of the group.

According to multiple sources from Hanwha L&C and the industry on Tuesday, Hanwha L&C would hold a ground-breaking ceremony for the ITO glass production plant in Eumseong at the end of July.

ITO glass is used as core materials for Flat Panel Displays such as LCD and PDP, touch panels and organic light emitting diode (OLED).

Hanwha L&C announced that day that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a U.S. based XG Sciences Inc. to put joint efforts for the development and technology for carbon nano materials.

A source from the company said that based on XG Sciences' original technology of graphene developed by the Michigan State University, the two will promote joint businesses with respect to investment and research & development (R&D) projects.

In addition, Hanwha L&C aims at developing a technology that applies graphene onto ITO glass by adopting XG Sciences' technology.

Currently, the global nanomaterials market stands at two trillion dollars. The nanomaterials industry is one of future key industries that are in the center of attention and receive investment from countries around the world such as the U.S., Japan and Europe.

Moreover, the industry is recognized as high-value added one since it can be applied to various sectors including electronics materials, energy and environmental materials, and pharmaceutical intermediates as well as cosmetics.

Moreover, ITO glass which is the core material for solar batteries can generate synergy with the solar energy business, Hanwha's new star industry. An industry official stated, "Hanwha has acquired the lot in Eumsung to foster the material production industry, while satisfying the need to expand the production capacity of the existing Bugang plant in Cheongwon."

Hanwha L&C's Eumsung site will also produce ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) sheets, the core material utilized in the solar energy industry.

Mass production of EVA sheets started in May of last year when the company successfully began domestic production of the sheets. Meanwhile, in an aim to become the world's third largest manufacturer following Japan's Bridgestone and Mitsui Chemical, Hanwha L&C plans to enlarge the scale of EVA sheet production to 25,000 tons by 2015 and 50,000 by 2020 in the Bugang and Eumsung facilities.

Thus, Hanwha Group is to proceed with the solar power business through specialization whereby Hanwha Chemical takes over the solar battery and Hanwha L&C is in charge of EVA sheets and back sheets.

[Written by Il-ho Moon - Jin Choi, Narai Ahn / edited by Soyoung Chung]

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