Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A., a France-based manufacturer of construction materials, will build a high-tech bioprocessing production facility in South Korea, a move that would help form an upgraded value chain of Korea’s biotech industry.

The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority said on Thursday that it signed a land sale agreement with Saint-Gobain at G-Tower in Songdo, Gyeonggi province for the construction of the French company’s manufacturing facility dedicated to bio fluid system. Under the agreement, Saint-Gobain Korea, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, will invest 21.8 billion won to build a two-story manufacturing facility with one underground floor on a total ground area of 13,000 square meters in Songdo’s Yeonsu District. The company will aim to complete its construction in the end of next year after breaking ground in November this year.

The authority said that the latest investment by Saint-Gobain to build a bioprocessing facility will help upgrade the overall value chain ecosystem of Songdo Bio Cluster given the foundation that allows Saint-Gobain products to be supplied to its customers such as the country’s leading biotech companies Samsung BioLogics and Celltrion that run factories in the area.

Saint-Gobain - headquartered in La Defense, near Paris, founded in 1665 - is a developer and manufacturer of ceramic materials and high-performance plastic technology products. The French company is one of the top 200 global companies named by U.S. business magazine Fortune. Saint-Gobain has been expanding its portfolio to include materials for high-tech industry such as life science as well as medical and semiconductor industries. About 170,000 employees work for Saint-Gobain across 67 countries.

By Ji Hong-goo and Lee Eun-joo

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