Lam Research Korea Prepares to Relocate to Yongin Campus in July 2024

Lam Research Korea Technology Center (KTC) in Yongin [Courtesy of Lam Research Korea]

Lam Research Corp., an American supplier of wafer-fabrication equipment and related services to the semiconductor industry, is intensifying its commitment to South Korea by relocating its facilities to create a combined campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

The company held a campus tour for media on Tuesday, highlighting the second anniversary of the inaugural equipment arrival at the Lam Research Korea Technology Center (KTC) in Yongin. Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Fremont, California, Lam Research specializes in developing and manufacturing equipment and services for semiconductor wafer production.

Back in April of last year, the 30,000-square-foot R&D facility in Giheung District, Yongin, was officially inaugurated. In November 2021, the facility under construction welcomed Sense.i, a state-of-the-art wafer etching equipment, further bolstering Lam Research’s technological capabilities.

Lam Research’s investment in Korea continues to grow. An office building is currently under construction within the Yongin complex housing the KTC, slated for completion in July next year. Once finished, both the technical training center in Dongtan and the Pangyo headquarters will be relocated and expanded within the Yongin complex.

Established in March 2018, the training center aims to localize semiconductor technical training, offering programs for customers, Lam Research personnel, and partnering engineers. It also runs an equipment training program tailored for college students, contributing to talent development in the field.

Since establishing Lam Research Korea Ltd. in 1989, the company has been reinforcing its investment across the business value chain in the Korean market while expanding partnerships to localize components and equipment.

Since its inception in 1989, Lam Research Korea Ltd. has been reinforcing its investment across the entire business value chain, emphasizing partnerships for localizing components and equipment.

Korea is a strategically important market for Lam Research given that the country, led by Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., holds the largest share in the global memory chip market.

Lam Research is the first global semiconductor equipment company to operate all of its key operations in the K-Semiconductor Belt in Yongin, including manufacturing, logistics, marketing, sales, customer support, training, and R&D.

The company has been strengthening its business foundation in Korea to work closely with customers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Its R&D strategy is to locate its research facilities near its customers to dramatically shorten the period of development and testing, increase productivity, and reduce costs.

“The turnaround time for the process development used to be about three weeks when we sent wafers to our U.S. headquarters, but now we can use the KTC to immediately consult with customers and start testing wafers, which takes just a day or two,” said Jung Sung-rak, managing director and regional operations executive at Lam Research Korea.