SKC secures manufacturing capabilities in Eastern Europe, to complete its global manufacturing network, which includes plants in the U.S. and China

With Chairman Choi Shin-won and CEO Park Jang Suk in attendance, SKC held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new optical film plant in Wroclaw, which is located in the southwestern part of Poland, on June 1, 2007. The new plant will be registered under the name SKC Eurodisplay and will be the launching pad for SKC’s entry into the European market.
SKC chose a 55-pyeong plot of land within Wroclaw’s special economic zone and will invest 14.3 billion won to construct an optical film plant that will be completed by April 2008. This plant will produce optical films for LCD TVs (diffusion film, reflective film). SKC is currently the leading maker of reflective and diffusion films in the world.
Upon the completion of the Poland plant, SKC will possess a total of four optical film plants including its Cheonan plant in Korea, Suzhou plant (Jiangsu Province, 江蘇省), in China, and Huizhou plant (Guangdong Province, 廣東省), which is also _ base_d in China. This strong manufacturing _ base_ will make SKC more competitive in the optical film market.
The demand for LCD optical film in Eastern European only comprised 5% of total world demand in 2007. However, demand in this region is expected to grow substantially to 16% of total global demand by 2012, posting an annual growth rate exceeding 36%. In the Eastern European market, SKC is hoping to capture 40% of the market and post annual revenues of more than 30 billion won by 2009.
At the groundbreaking ceremony for the new plant, CEO Park Jang Seok remarked, “we have completed our global strategy of expanding our presence in three key markets by building plants in America and China and adding a third one in Eastern European. We will be the market leader in Eastern Europe’s display material market by deliver quality products from a Europe-_ base_d plant.”
SKC possesses seven plants around the world after building its first foreign plant in China. Today, it has plants in Suzhou (蘇州) and Huizhou (惠州). SKC constructed a polyester film plant in the U.S. in 1997 and currently has a 15% share of the American market for polyester films.