JSR Expands EUV Photoresist Production to Taiwan and South Korea

Japanese chemical company JSR is expanding its EUV photoresist production to Taiwan and South Korea. The company is building its first photoresist facility in Taiwan through a joint venture with Wah Lee Industrial and LCY Chemical. The plant is located in Yunlin County and is expected to come online by 2028.

New Taiwan plant co-develops resists with TSMC

JSR is also ramping up the world's first production-scale metal oxide resist (MOR) facility in Cheongju, South Korea. That facility is expected to begin mass production this year. MOR offers significant performance advantages over traditional organic chemically amplified resists (CARs). According to Inpria, tin-oxide MOR absorbs EUV photons roughly five times more efficiently than organic CARs. MOR uses molecular building blocks about five times smaller, and its etch resistance is 10 to 100 times higher. Inpria has reported MOR patterning down to pitch-18 with full etch transfer.

Specifications

• MOR EUV absorption efficiency: 5x higher than organic CARs
• MOR molecular building block size: 5x smaller than organic CARs
• MOR etch resistance: 10 to 100 times higher than organic CARs
• MOR patterning capability: pitch-18 with full etch transfer

The Taiwan plant will co-develop advanced photoresists with TSMC. JSR's move follows a direct request from TSMC to localize production and reduce development cycle times. In South Korea, the MOR facility will supply Samsung and SK hynix.

JSR was acquired by Japan Investment Corporation (JIC) in 2024 and delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. New CEO Tetsuro Hori, who took over in April 2025, told the publication that "speed is critical." Toru Kimura, a senior officer at JSR who heads the company's electronic materials business, told Nikkei that "Chinese players are a threat, but it'll still be some time before they can catch up with us and take market share." Specific capacity figures, the output mix between MOR and conventional resists, and the exact scope of the Yunlin plant have not been disclosed.