Techross Water & Energy, an environmental and energy engineering, procurement and construction company under Bubang Group, is stepping up efforts to localize production technology for ultra-pure water — a critical infrastructure input for advanced industries including semiconductors.
The company recently signed separate MOUs with major domestic materials, parts and equipment firms — Samyang, Synopex, Ecoset and Sepratech — to jointly pursue technology collaboration and commercialization for domestic ultra-pure water production.
Ultra-pure water is high-purity industrial water used to clean wafers and manufacturing equipment in advanced production processes for semiconductors, displays and secondary batteries. Despite being critical infrastructure directly tied to semiconductor production yields, the technology has long relied heavily on foreign suppliers, making independent technology development and a stable supply chain an urgent priority.
In April, Techross Water & Energy was selected as the lead agency for a government-sponsored national research project titled "Full-Process Localization Technology Development for Ultra-Pure Water Production." The project aims to expand the scope of localization — previously limited to select processes — to cover the entire production chain, including pretreatment, pure water processing and ultra-pure water processing, with a target domestic localization rate of 90 percent or higher.
The MOUs were designed to help Techross Water & Energy, as the lead agency, internalize the core materials, parts and equipment technologies needed for ultra-pure water production. Collaboration will proceed by area, drawing on each partner's specialized capabilities: ion-exchange resin for removing ions from water (Samyang), degassing membranes (Sepratech), ultrafiltration (Synopex) and ultraviolet oxidation systems (Ecoset). Techross Water & Energy will oversee design, construction, operations and maintenance, and overall commercialization as it leads the localization technology development effort.
"This collaboration is significant in that we have laid a strategic foundation with domestic materials, parts and equipment companies to achieve technological independence in ultra-pure water production — a process that has been heavily dependent on foreign technology," a company official said. "Drawing on our extensive design and construction experience in water treatment, we aim to achieve a 90 percent domestic localization rate across the full ultra-pure water production process by 2030 and contribute to building stable infrastructure for advanced industries."
Meanwhile, Techross Water & Energy has been building a track record across the full water treatment cycle — ultra-pure water supply, wastewater treatment and water reuse — for advanced industries, including a recent contract for wastewater treatment construction at the Yongin semiconductor cluster commissioned by SK Hynix. The company currently holds a cumulative construction record of more than 330,000 cubic meters per day of ultra-pure water facility capacity.
leechemy@heraldcorp.com
