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According to Yonhap News,

Samsung LED invests in Daegu

Samsung LED and Sumitomo Chemical will jointly establish a factory for LED core materials in the Seongseo 5 High-Tech Industrial Complex in Daegu in the form of a joint company, and signed an investment agreement at the Daegu City Hall on April 7th.

Samsung LED and Sumitomo Chemical will jointly establish a factory for LED core materials in the Seongseo 5 High-Tech Industrial Complex in Daegu in the form of a joint company.

Daegu City signed an investment agreement with Samsung LED and Sumitomo Chemical at the Daegu City Hall on April 7th.

The signing ceremony was attended by Daegu Mayor Kim Beom-il, Samsung LED CEO Kim Jae-gwon, and Dongwoo Fine-Chem CEO Kim Sang-yun on behalf of Sumitomo Chemical CEO Masakazu Tokura.

The investment by Samsung in Daegu is the first since 2000 when Samsung Commercial Vehicle withdrew from the Seongseo Industrial Complex.

The new factory will produce sapphire wafers, an essential material for LEDs.

The joint company will complete the factory on the area of 110,719m² by October and start its operation next year.

The ground breaking ceremony will be held on April 20th, and the investment amount is known to be KRW 460 billion.

The demand for sapphire wafers is increasing with the growth of the LED market, and thus the stable supply of the important material now determines the competitiveness of the LED business. The market has grown from USD 230 million in 2009 to USD 910 million this year. The city said that the sapphire wafer market will significantly expand to USD 1,470 million by 2014.

Daegu expects that the investment by large companies will serve as an opportunity to transform the city into a high value added industrial production base from a place focused on traditional industries.

The city plans to be dedicated to attract corporate investment mainly in the three new growth businesses including new renewable energy, LED & secondary cells, and robots.

Daegu Mayor Kim Beom-il said “we will provide full administrative support from the groundbreaking to occupation,” and added “we are off to a good start in drawing large-scale investment and will continue to be committed to inducing competitive companies to our city.”

Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (April 7, 2011)

**This is an English translation of a Korean news article.