That was the scene on Sept. 18 at the construction site of Tokyo Electron Korea's (TEL) research and evaluation facility in Wonsam-myeon, Cheoin-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. With the Chuseok holiday about a week away, Kolon Global was in the thick of work on a total of 12 buildings — four main structures including a fab, an office, a parking tower and a daycare center, plus eight utility buildings for electricity, water supply and other services.
The site is a research and evaluation base for TEL, the global semiconductor equipment maker. The company installs equipment identical to what it supplies to customer SK hynix and verifies performance under the same conditions as an actual production line. SK hynix's Yongin semiconductor cluster is going up about 1 kilometer away. "You can't keep testing equipment inside a customer's plant while it's in production," said Lee Jae-yeol, Kolon Global's site manager. "This is a facility that creates identical clean room conditions to evaluate and upgrade equipment." It is similar to a digital twin — which replicates a plant in virtual space — except implemented with real equipment.
Inside the evaluation building where the semiconductor equipment will be installed, even the floor differs from an ordinary structure. Panels are laid over a steel frame, with space secured underneath for piping and wiring. The core of the evaluation building is the clean room and air conditioning. For equipment to perform properly in semiconductor processes such as etching, deposition, photolithography and cleaning, fine contaminants must be filtered out and a stable environment maintained. Filter fan units in the ceiling supply clean air and keep internal pressure higher than outside to block contaminants. The basement houses equipment supplying ultrapure water and cooling water. The entire building is configured to support the operation of the equipment.
Construction began in July last year, with completion targeted for January next year. SK hynix moved up the completion of its plant from May to February next year, leaving little slack in the TEL facility's schedule as well.
The project is a stepping stone for Kolon Global's expansion into high-tech construction. The company is broadening its order pipeline around technology-intensive industrial facilities in semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and biotech. It gained experience in clean room and air conditioning installation at Daewoong Bio's cephalosporin antibiotics plant, and has also worked on semiconductor support infrastructure, including a discharge water temperature reduction facility at Samsung Electronics' Pyeongtaek campus and an integrated water supply project for the Yongin semiconductor industrial complex.
Competitiveness in high-tech construction comes from carrying such experience over to the next site. The TEL project will likewise serve as a track record for winning follow-on orders for semiconductor materials, parts and equipment facilities. Kolon Global aims to accumulate industrial construction credentials to reduce its dependence on the housing cycle and broaden its non-residential business base.
The closer completion comes, the more safety weighs on management. No accidents so far offers no guarantee for what lies ahead. "The more complex the site becomes, the more hands-on management it needs," Lee said, adding that safety management would continue at the site through the Chuseok holiday.
