Doosan Corp. bets $700 mil. on chip substrate material biz

Doosan Corp., the holding company of Doosan Group which also operates an electromaterials business, will invest 970 billion won ($702.6 million) to expand its production capacity for copper clad laminates (CCLs), a key material for advanced semiconductor substrates.

Doosan Corp. said in a regulatory filing Thursday that its board approved investment to expand the domestic and overseas production capacity of its electromaterials business unit. Under the plan, the company will invest 970 billion won by Dec. 31 next year to expand its production capacity in Korea and overseas.

The investment is the largest in Doosan Corp.’s history and accounts for about 8 percent of its equity capital.

CCL is a key material used in advanced chip substrates and printed circuit boards (PCBs) found in virtually all electronic devices. The market for the material has remained strong in recent months as demand continues to outpace supply across the broader semiconductor value chain.

Doosan Corp. will spend 420 billion won to expand its domestic production lines for CCLs used in optical transceivers — devices that convert electrical signals between servers into optical signals.

In China, the company will invest about 550 billion won to build a new plant producing CCLs for artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators and network switches.

Doosan Corp. said it selected the sites based on product characteristics and the need for timely expansion. In Korea, the company will locate production lines for optical transceiver CCLs as quality control and protection of core technologies are particularly important.

China, meanwhile, offers proximity to a dense cluster of global PCB manufacturers, allowing faster customer responses times and quicker plant construction.

The investment came as growing demand for AI servers and high-performance computing systems, which require fast processing for massive amounts of data, is driving demand for high-frequency, low-loss CCLs.

As global tech companies announce large-scale capacity expansion plans, CCL orders are also growing into trillion-won-level deals, while Doosan Corp.’s domestic production lines are already operating beyond full capacity.

The company said global competitors are also expanding capacity, and that the latest investment will help solidify Doosan Corp’s position as a supplier equipped with both technological and production capabilities.

“Global customers are increasingly recognizing Doosan Corp.’s technological expertise and ability to ensure timely supply,” Doosan Corp. President Yoo Seung-woo said. “As the AI data center market expands and customer orders grow larger, we will make investments ahead of demand to supply the necessary volume on time.”

The company also said it decided to cancel nearly 2.57 million treasury shares. This is equivalent to 12.2 percent of the company’s total outstanding shares and worth about 3 trillion won.