Katherine Dei Cas (left), executive vice president and global head of delivery systems and services and specialty gases at Merck Electronics KGaA, and Kim Woo-kyu, managing director at Merck Ltd. Korea, pose at Merck’s booth during Semicon Korea 2026 in Seoul on Wednesday. (Merck Korea)
Katherine Dei Cas (left), executive vice president and global head of delivery systems and services and specialty gases at Merck Electronics KGaA, and Kim Woo-kyu, managing director at Merck Ltd. Korea, pose at Merck’s booth during Semicon Korea 2026 in Seoul on Wednesday. (Merck Korea)

Merck will begin producing next-generation semiconductor material molybdenum in South Korea this year, supplying local chipmakers as they transition away from conventional metal wiring in advanced chips.

Molybdenum is emerging as an alternative to tungsten and copper in the microscopic interconnects that link transistors in semiconductors. As wiring scales down to 2-nanometer nodes and below, traditional materials face physical limits that constrain performance and energy efficiency.

“Customer deliveries are being prepared for this year,” said Kim Woo-kyu, managing director of Merck Korea, at a press briefing Tuesday ahead of Semicon Korea 2026, the country’s largest semiconductor trade show.

While Merck declined to name clients, it supplies Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, and industry sources expect both to adopt molybdenum in upcoming memory and logic chips.

At atomic scales, molybdenum offers lower electrical resistance than tungsten, enabling faster signal transmission with less power loss. Its initial application is expected in 3D NAND flash memory, where vertically stacked transistors require stable signal pathways across dense layers.

“Today, NAND is where the volume is largest,” Kim said. “But logic is also a possibility, and after that, DRAM.”

Merck’s Eumseong plant in North Chungcheong Province will produce molybdenum precursors — specialized compounds used to deposit ultra-thin films via chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition.

Unlike some conventional materials that can be delivered in gas form, molybdenum is solid at room temperature. For high-volume chip production, it must be maintained at a stable 175 degrees Celsius throughout transport and delivery to prevent flow disruptions or contamination.

“This is not just about the molecule itself,” said Katherine Dei Cas, executive vice president and global head of delivery systems and specialty gases at Merck Electronics. “It’s about how you deliver it, consistently and without failure, inside a fab.”

Merck pairs the material with its proprietary ChemKeeper delivery system, designed to maintain constant heat and pressure while achieving over 99 percent material utilization. The company says this reduces downtime and lowers chipmakers' total cost of ownership.

The facility is part of Merck’s 600 million euro ($714 million) Korea investment plan announced in 2021 to expand semiconductor materials capacity and localize supply. While not all funds have been deployed, Kim said the molybdenum line is central to the strategy.

Merck also produces molybdenum precursors in Pennsylvania, with the Eumseong site positioned as its Asia supply hub.

“Our goal is to have regional production near customers while ensuring business continuity across global sites,” Dei Cas said. “That balance is essential in today’s supply chain environment.”

Merck is showcasing its molybdenum solution this week at Semicon Korea 2026 in Seoul.


mjh@heraldcorp.com