● ​SKC and SKC hi-tech&marketing invest 85 billion won for the commercial production of transparent PI film and start commercialization in October 2019 

● ​Rollable display may further develop into “unbreakable” display material

SKC (CEO Lee Wang-jae) officially announced that it is starting the business of transparent PI film, the core material of foldable displays. Transparent PI film has a hard surface like glass but is foldable. Furthermore, no trace remains even when it is folded multiple times. It has emerged as an important material that can replace the existing cover glass sheets in next-generation displays like foldable or rollable displays.

SKC has decided to invest in the new film with the emergence of the foldable display market along with SKC hi-tech&marketing, which is investing an additional 17 billion won

The SKC board meeting held at the main office in the afternoon of 27th decided to invest 68 billion won in the production facility of transparent PI film. It plans to start commercial production of the film in October 2019 after introducing new production equipment into its Jincheon factory by July 2019. SKC hi-tech&marketing will process the transparent PI film into hard coating film. To that end, SKC hi-tech&marketing has decided to invest an additional 17 billion won. The two companies plan to capture at least 30% market share in 2021. 

SKC has decided to invest in foldable display material to respond actively to the prospect of the foldable display market. SA (Strategic Analytics), a market survey agency, forecasts that the foldable display appliance market will grow into approximately 51 million units in 2022 after rapidly growing in 2019 to 2020. In particular, the new film is expected to replace easily breakable cover glass sheet if it can realize the luxurious feel of the glass sheet and “Unbreakable” displays. Then, it will _ create_ a 1 trillion won market. 

SKC boasts of outstanding competitiveness _ base_d on its familiar processes, know-how for the production of optical film, and Korea’s No. 1 process skills 

Only a few have developed transparent PI film throughout the world. Among them, SKC has an especially strong advantage in terms of competitiveness. First of all, SKC has developed a production process for transparent PI film, which is similar to that for the production of colored PI film. SKC is familiar with the process since it has already succeeded in the development and mass production of colored PI film. Therefore, it will be able to produce quality film in a stable manner from the beginning by minimizing trial and error that is usually experienced in the initial stage of mass production. 

Furthermore, SKC boasts of production know-how that has been accumulated in the production of various optical films, whereas SKC hi-tech&marketing, Korea’s No. 1 film processor, has outstanding technological competence. Transparency and defect level are critical attributes for the transparent PI film designed to replace the existing cover glass sheet. The perfection of transparent PI film will be enhanced by the know-how of SKC, with which it has produced optical display films in the film making stage, and the technological competence of SKC hi-tech&marketing that has produced various products that are very difficult to produce, including glass decoration film for smart phones in the processing stage. 

SKC’s transparent PI film has already received positive reviews in the market. It has earned satisfactory scores in the number of folding, hardness, and light penetration. “We will speedily satisfy customers’ requirements by obtaining approval for mass production at the earliest possible date utilizing the merits of SKC. We will produce sample films using pilot equipment to respond to the market demand in the beginning stage until we reach the mass production stage,” said Kim Do-gyeong, the leader of SKC Transparent PI Film Business Team.  

SKC Film Division speedily reshuffles the product portfolio around specialty products 

SKC believes the current investment will mark a new milestone in its film business reorganization. SKC, which has proclaimed a new vision of “Global Specialty Marketer” in 2016, has concentrated its resources on the development of specialty products in the year 2017. A good example is specialty PVB film for automobile windshield for which it signed a letter of intent (LOI) with a petrochemical company in China in May 2017. 

“We will reorganize the film division into the industrial materials division next year to diversify from PET film into transparent PI film, PVB film, optical materials, and other highly functional materials for future industries. We will do our best to realize achievements at the earliest possible date with our efforts made so far, including acquisition of equity shares of SKC hi-tech&marketing,” said Lee Yong-sun, president of Film Business. [End]