BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, said Monday it would build a regional research and development center for electronic materials in Korea, a month after announcing it would move its Asia-Pacific headquarters for electronic materials business to Seoul.

“The regional R&D center will be BASF’s first electronic materials R&D center in Korea and will serve the Asian region,” Shin Woo-sung, managing director of BASF Korea, said in a press conference.

“When it comes to where to invest, there are three main factors to consider: market, raw materials and technology. China is obviously the biggest market, and much of the raw materials come from the Middle East. But Korea has the people with superior technology.”

BASF has technical labs in Taiwan and Japan which develop various applications for its electronic materials, but the envisioned R&D center in Korea will handle more advanced research to develop new electronic materials.

Shin said the new facility would be built within this year or next year, although details such as the size of investment and location had not yet been decided.

The regional headquarters to be set up in Seoul in the next two months will coordinate marketing and product management, sales management and operational management in the Asia-Pacific including China.

BASF has been a leading supplier of electronic materials for over 30 years, offering a full portfolio of high-purity and high-quality process chemicals and specialized solutions for semiconductors, flat-panel displays and lighting including LED and photovoltaics, in which Korea boasts the world’s top technologies.

“Chemistry-based innovation will be an important enabler for the fast-paced electronic industry with its short technology life cycles, where time-to-market counts,” said Lothar Laupichler, senior vice president of BASF Electronic Materials.

“With our strong R&D expertise and regional headquarters of electronic materials business in close proximity to customers in Asia, we will be able to contribute faster and more effectively to our customers’ needs with comprehensive solutions.”

In Korea, BASF runs six factories, employs nearly 1,000 people and posted 2.5 trillion won ($2.3 billion) in revenue last year.

Worldwide, the German company saw 78.7 billion euros ($102.7 billion) in sales, 19 percent of which came from the Asia-Pacific and 55 percent from Europe, and 9 billion euros in operating profit in 2012. It spent some 1.75 billion euros in R&D last year, 45 percent of which was invested in agricultural and performance products.

BASF’s business areas include chemicals, performance products, functional solutions, agricultural solutions, oil and gas.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)