Chapter 179: Alternative
Samwoo Chemical headquarters, CEO’s office.
As soon as he arrived at work, Deputy Manager Han Jin-guk reported the progress to the CEO.
“CEO, we have officially notified Dojin Tech of the discontinuation of hafnium oxide supply.”
Yi Kyung-soo, who received the documents, carefully skimmed through the contents.
A relaxed smile appeared on his lips.
“What was Dojin’s reaction?”
“There hasn’t been any particular movement yet, but we’ll hear from them soon.”
The hafnium oxide they produced was an essential material for semiconductor manufacturing, so they couldn’t not seek it out.
Of course, there were alternatives.
Japanese products were less efficient and lacked mass production stability.
“What do you plan to do when Dojin contacts you?”
“I plan to raise the price under the pretext that the unit cost will increase for additional production.”
“By how much?”
“I think doubling or tripling it would be appropriate.”
The CEO, Yi Kyung-soo, looked at Deputy Manager Han with a slightly dissatisfied expression.
“The quantity Dojin buys isn’t that large, is it?”
“Well… it isn’t. Their semiconductor production scale isn’t that big yet.”
“Then just raise it by ten times. Make it clear.”
“What?”
“If they really need it, they’ll buy it at that price. Of course, if they don’t, that’s fine too.”
Yi Kyung-soo smiled meaningfully as he watched Deputy Manager Han roll his eyes.
It was the perfect opportunity to show their loyalty to Cheon Jun-seok, the newly appointed head of Ahsung Electronics’ semiconductor division.
“…I’ll take care of it.”
After finishing his report, Deputy Manager Han Jin-guk left the CEO’s office and found the purchasing team leader from Dojin Tech waiting for him with an anxious expression.
“I’m sorry for coming without notice.”
Han Jin-guk looked at him with a sullen expression.
“I’m busy… What is it, Deputy Manager Lee Jung-hoon?”
“I also sent an email, but it’s about the hafnium oxide.”
“I already told you. Due to our production issues, we can’t supply it to Dojin.”
Deputy Manager Lee Jung-hoon looked troubled.
“No… If you suddenly stop supplying like this, what are we supposed to do? Please don’t…”
“Ah, I told you. We don’t have enough inventory to supply to Dojin.”
With an annoyed tone, Deputy Manager Lee’s voice rose slightly.
“You should at least supply what we ordered with the PO.”
Generally, Dojin had a policy of placing orders three months in advance for all major materials.
In that sense, Samwoo Chemical’s actions were a clear breach of contract.
Perhaps because of this, there was a subtle change in Han Jin-guk’s tone.
“Well… It’s not entirely impossible to supply.”
“You mean you can resume supply?”
“However, since we also need to expand our mass production lines, the unit price will have to increase.”
“By how much…?”
After a brief pause, Han Jin-guk spoke slowly, testing the other’s reaction.
“You’ll have to pay $500,000 per kilogram.”
“What?”
Deputy Manager Lee Jung-hoon’s face flushed instantly.
“You were selling it for $50,000 per kilogram last month, and now you’re selling it for $500,000?”
Deputy Manager Lee Jung-hoon was barely holding back his rising anger.
But the anger that could explode at any moment didn’t subside easily.
Was this reaction intentional?
Han Jin-guk, with one corner of his mouth curled up, continued speaking shamelessly.
“If it’s too much, you don’t have to buy it. Expanding our lines isn’t cheap, you know.”
The CEO, Yi Kyung-soo, said it was fine not to sell.
Han Jin-guk had no doubt that they would eventually buy it, even at ten times the price.
The hafnium oxide they produced was an essential material that couldn’t be omitted from the semiconductor process.
But…
“You’ll regret saying that.”
“What?”
Han Jin-guk blinked in surprise at the unexpected reaction.
“I’m saying we won’t buy it at the absurd price of $500,000 per kilogram.”
“Tsk… If you don’t buy it, that’s it, but I think you’ll be the one to regret it.”
Han Jin-guk’s expression remained relaxed.
No matter how he thought about it, he didn’t think he would regret it.
“Do you think Samwoo is the only one that can make hafnium oxide?”
Han Jin-guk barely held back his laughter.
What kind of childish wordplay was this?
Still, he was curious about what the other person was trying to say.
“So, you’re saying there’s another place that can make hafnium oxide besides us?”
If they were talking about Japanese alternatives, he planned to openly ridicule them.
But an unexpected answer came from Deputy Manager Lee Jung-hoon.
“If we put our minds to it, we can make something like Samwoo’s hafnium oxide anytime.”
“……”
Han Jin-guk, stunned for a moment, finally let out the laughter he had been holding back.
“Pfft, Deputy Manager Lee, you must not know much since you’re only in charge of purchasing. Hafnium oxide isn’t something you can make that easily. And the core technology is patented…”
“I know Ahsung holds the patent.”
“…So, you still think you can make it yourself?”
“You’ll see. Anyway, Samwoo Chemical will bitterly regret today’s decision.”
With that, Deputy Manager Lee Jung-hoon stormed out, leaving Han Jin-guk staring blankly.
Then, he let out a laugh as if he couldn’t believe it.
“This isn’t child’s play. It took us over five years to develop it. How do you think you can make it?”
Thinking that if they came back, he would raise the price not by ten times but even more, Deputy Manager Han Jin-guk didn’t think much further.
But it didn’t take long for him to regret this decision.
“As expected, Samwoo Chemical refused to supply hafnium oxide.”
I nodded at Deputy Manager Hong Chung-ki’s report.
“To be precise, they asked to raise the price by ten times.”
“Even selling it for $50,000 per kilogram already gives them over 30% profit. $500,000 is no different from robbery.”
Looking at Deputy Manager Hong Chung-ki’s frowning face, my chest felt tight.
‘If Ben Ari knew the production cost of AGE-01 is about $10,000, would he think I’m a robber too?’
Of course, Ben Ari couldn’t make AGE himself.
I knew a material that could replace hafnium oxide, so I could confidently call them robbers.
“But can you really make hafnium oxide?”
At Deputy Manager Hong Chung-ki’s question, I smiled mischievously.
“Did I say I could make it?”
“Huh? What do you mean…”
“I didn’t say I’d make it myself. I said there’s an alternative.”
Deputy Manager Hong’s surprised expression instantly turned into one of disbelief.
“What… What alternative?”
“If you have time, why don’t you come with me somewhere?”
“…Just the two of us, with the CEO?”
“Seong-hwan will be waiting there first.”
“……”
I took Deputy Manager Hong Chung-ki, who looked confused, and headed to the advanced industrial complex in Chungbuk Ochang.
After driving for about two hours, we arrived at our destination.
A building with a sign saying
“Could it be… You’re saying this place is the alternative?”
“Yes. A material that can replace hafnium oxide is being developed here.”
“It doesn’t look like a company that can make such a material.”
As Deputy Manager Hong Chung-ki said, the company looked small and was barely known.
But it was a company that would soon grow into one of the top three ‘next-generation semiconductor precursor material companies’ in the world.
“Let’s go in.”
As I opened the door and entered, Seong-hwan, who had arrived first, was waiting for me with a few others.
One of them was someone I knew.
Dr. Jo Kang-seong.
The developer of zirconium oxide-formaldehyde (ZrO2-FM) and the CEO of Radian Solutions.
‘It’s good to see you again.’
We had spent several months together developing zirconium oxide-formaldehyde.
Of course, now we were strangers… .
“I’m Jo Kang-seong. It’s an honor to meet you.”
“Haha, it’s great to see you too.”
“I didn’t expect the CEO of Dojin Group to come in person.”
Looking around, not only CEO Jo Kang-seong but also the employees of Radian Solutions seemed a bit tense as they looked at me.
Every time I saw this, I could feel how much Dojin had grown.
“Let’s not stand here. Let’s go inside and talk. There’s a lot to discuss.”
“Ah, let’s do that.”
Following CEO Jo Kang-seong’s guidance, we moved to the conference room. On the table were water, tea, and snacks that had been prepared in advance.
I was the one in need.
Looking at this, it seemed like Radian Solutions had higher expectations.
‘Brother, I talked to them first. No matter the conditions, they said they wanted to collaborate with us.’
It made sense.
Comparing us, with annual sales exceeding $200 billion, to them, with no proper sales yet, was impossible.
“If it’s okay with you, I’ll first explain the zirconium oxide-formaldehyde we’re developing.”
I nodded at CEO Jo Kang-seong’s words.
“I was curious. Please go ahead.”
CEO Jo Kang-seong began his explanation, flipping through the slides.
“The material we’re developing is ‘zirconium oxide-formaldehyde (ZrO2-FM).’”
“Zirconium oxide has high permittivity and thermal stability, making it a candidate for insulation layers.”
At my words, CEO Jo Kang-seong nodded.
“For that reason, zirconium oxide was considered before, but it wasn’t applied due to issues like insufficient crystal stability, surface roughness, and interface oxidation.”
“So, you added formaldehyde to zirconium oxide to address those issues?”
“That’s right.”
CEO Jo Kang-seong explained that to improve the issues with zirconium oxide,
they minimized structural distortion by thinly depositing a polyformaldehyde polymer as an interface stabilization layer.
He showed me a graph comparing leakage characteristics.
The first was the electric field leakage current of a hafnium oxide-based insulation layer,
and the second was the electric field leakage current of a zirconium oxide-formaldehyde-based insulation layer.
“The permittivity is similar, but the leakage current is definitely over 40% lower with zirconium oxide-formaldehyde.”
“This is amazing.”
“At this level, isn’t it better than hafnium oxide?”
Even to a non-expert like Deputy Manager Hong Chung-ki, the performance seemed overwhelmingly superior.
CEO Jo Kang-seong waved his hand.
“It’s not perfect yet.”
“Well, if it were perfect, it would have already replaced hafnium oxide.”
“There seem to be unresolved issues. What are they?”
Of course, I knew what the issues were, but I pretended not to know and asked.
CEO Jo answered cautiously.
“There are currently two unresolved issues.”
Everyone’s attention naturally turned to CEO Jo.
“The first is the thermal stability of the FM polymer.”
After deposition, during high-temperature processes, there was a certain probability of molecular structure decomposition or lifting.
“The second is that CMP process compatibility isn’t yet 100% secured.”
Deputy Manager Hong Chung-ki’s face filled with disappointment as he listened.
“So, it’s barely past the R&D stage?”
CEO Jo Kang-seong didn’t deny it.
“We believe it will take another year or two of technological development for mass production. So…”
After a brief pause, CEO Jo glanced at me and spoke again.
“If you invest in us, we can complete the development as quickly as possible…”
Before he could finish,
Seong-hwan interrupted.
“One or two years is too long. We need a material to replace hafnium oxide right now.”
“That’s right. We can’t afford to wait that long.”
When even Deputy Manager Hong Chung-ki spoke up, the room fell silent.
Then, I made a proposal to CEO Jo Kang-seong.