German pharmaceutical and chemical giant Merck on Thursday opened its OLED Application Center in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, as part of a renewed strategy to spur its display business in Korea.

The company invested 7 million euros ($7.6 million) into the new building, which features clean-room facilities and other OLED-related application and analysis equipment.

“This investment is based on our continued faith in Korea’s leadership of global display industry and confidence in the industry’s long-term growth,” said Johannes Baillou, chairman of the Board of Partners of E. Merck KG, during the opening ceremony.

According to the company, the center has a range of equipment for OLED evaporating testing and reliability analysis and will introduce other advanced processes such as inkjet printing through further investment.

“With the launch of the new center, Merck Korea now runs both an OLED Physics Application Center and a Chemical Application Center ― which was established in 2011 ― at one site, a first in Asia,” said Walter Galinat, the company’s performance materials business president and CEO.

Merck has expanded its investments in Korea, home to top display makers such as Samsung and LG. In 2010, the company also opened its Advanced Technology Center in Korea with a budget of 11 million euros.

For the new center, the Korean unit spent a year on the design and construction with support from an engineering team at the company’s Darmstadt headquarters. After its completion in February, the center started operations in April.

“We at Merck will continue efforts based on our customer-centric strategy of helping our customers succeed in their markets. We are committed to research and development of advanced technologies that live up to our customers’ needs and expectations,” said Michael Grund, managing director of Merck Korea.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)