Saudi Arabia is looking to develop its polycrystalline silicon resources to supply the growing global demand. It sees South Korean companies as ideal partners given Korea's leadership in polycrystalline silicon production and the complementary benefits for both countries. Saudi Arabia can leverage its high quality, low cost silicon reserves to produce polycrystalline silicon for Korean renewable energy and semiconductor companies. This will support Korea's green technology sectors while ensuring a stable supply. The partnership also opens opportunities across photovoltaic, energy storage and IT industries through joint ventures utilizing each country's strengths.
1. Mutajadedah Energy Company
1. Basic information about Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is one of the most influential country in Arabian
Peninsula. Actually, Saudi Arabia is the country which contains lots of
potentials to develop, and lots of golden opportunities to maintain the
situation of sustainable development with other coexisting countries
and corporations. Saudi Arabia will furnish investors from South
Korea to get the extremely expanded benefits.
Figure 1-1 Saudi Arabian National Flag
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Climate Inland: Arid and hot Economic 0.1%
Coast: Arid and wet Growth Rate (2009 est.)
Area 2,150,000 km2 GDP US $ 369,700,000,000
Population 23,980,000 people GDP per Capita US $ 17,700
Capital Riyadh Government Monarchy
Language Arabian Credit Ratings A1 = Moody’s
Figure 1-2 Basic Information Chart of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy and the largest country in the Middle East. Although
numerous monarchies in the Middle East faced downturns due to antigovernment demonstrations, the
Saudi Arabian government employed methods focused towards the citizen and thereby avoided such
discords between the government and the people and rather constructed a trusted relationship. Saudi
Arabia, therefore, is immune of systematic collapses that most Middle Eastern countries are
threatened by.The Saudi Arabian government has kept close relationships with the United States of
America as well as China. Such intimate relationship combined with sustainable social structure
allows Saudi Arabia to maintain the peace and stability.
Figure 1-3Public Debt _ CIA the World Fact book
The figure above demonstrates the miniscule rate of public debt in Saudi Arabia. The debt is
constantly descending due to the massive wealth that the Saudi Arabian government possesses.
Consistent effort of the Saudi Arabian government to defend and preserve the current financial
stability while avoiding the increase of public debt is recognized worldwide. The IMF, for instance,
predicted in 2009 that most G20 nations will face an increase in public debt and only a few will avoid
such a trend, and Saudi Arabia was predicted to be the latter.
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2. Figure 1-4 Sovereign Credit Ratings _ Chinese Credit Rating Organization dàgōng
Sovereign Credit Rating indicates the risk level of the investment environment of a nation. Saudi
Arabia’s sovereign credit rating has been constantly rising, and currently Saudi Arabia’s sovereign
credit rating is higher than that of the United States of America as shown in the figure above. The
credit-rating agencies give Saudi Arabia credit for its financial wealth, which is considered to be
sufficient enough to bear the global economic depression and oil price volatility. Such stability in
finance allows capacity for Saudi Arabia’s sovereign credit rating to rise even more and thereby
providing investors a safe environment for investment.
Figure 1-5 Global Competitiveness Report _ WEF
The ‘Doing Business 2011’shown in figure 1-6 rates Saudi
Arabia as 11thon the ease of doing business as shown in Figure 1-
6, which is an improvement from last year. The abundant
resources and stability in internal and external terms allowed
Saudi Arabia rapid economic growth which eventually led to
such business and investment conditions. Since the ranking is
related directly to the status of both direct and indirect
investment to Saudi Arabia and its firms, the improvement in this
ranking demonstrated by ‘Doing Business’ imply a promising
opportunity to invest in Saudi Arabian companies even when
compared in a global scale. The ‘Global Competitiveness Report’
also recognized Saudi Arabia as a highly competitive country
due to its rapid economic growth as well. Saudi Arabia, however,
has potential for further development.
Figure 1-6 Doing Business Report 2011
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3. 2. Why ‘Korea’?
Polycrystalline silicon, also known as poly-silicon, is a
material consisting of small silicon crystals. It is a
semiconductor originally used mainly for CPU construction.
However, as eco–friendly energy rose in demand,poly-
silicon is used in production of photo – voltaic panels, a
crucial component in the production of solar energy.
The future of poly-silicon is bright as more fields are
opened for usage due to technological development. Saudi
Arabia has abundant poly-silicon reserves of high-quality,
which MEC can exploit and create poly-silicon with. The
high-quality poly-silicon thus produced can be provided in a
relatively low price to Korean companies in relationship
with us, including the Korean company KCC which
recently signed a contract with us.
Our company chose Korea from the world as a potential
investor considering many aspects. One of them is that Figure 2-1 Poly-silicon market share
Korea is one of the world’s leading countries in
manufacturing poly-silicon. Figure2-1 demonstrates that OCI, a Korean company, has the third
biggest share in the poly-silicon market. Korea is, therefore, influential in the poly-silicon market.
Second, Korean companies produce poly-silicon of quality and competitiveness. The cost of poly-
silicon produced by Korean companies is comparatively cheap. Although the cost cannot compete
with China, Korean companies have a better reputation due to the goods’ higher quality compared to
that of Chinese products. Such reputation of high-quality combined with the relatively low price made
us choose Korea as our investor.
Third, the demand for poly-silicon is high in the Korean market. Korea is a country that is not apt to
produce energy by itself. It doesn’t have any fossil fuels including oil and coal, which are the most
commonly used energy sources not only in Korea but also worldwide. Due to such limitations, Korea
has but one choice – renewable energy. Poly-silicon provides photovoltaic panels, one of the main
elements needed for solar energy production. Poly-silicon is also used as a semiconductor for CPUs,
the most important part of an electric device. Since Korea has leading IT companies including
Samsung and LG, demands for poly-silicon is expected to be high in this field as well.
Korea can also benefit from this relationship.Investment in the poly-silicon industry will place Korea
at better conditions during solar energy trades between Saudi Arabia. The relationship will also
provide Korea a cheaper source of supply of poly-silicon, thereby enabling the reduction of
production costs of diverse poly-silicon related products.
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4. 3. Connections with other enterprises
Interest towards poly-silicon is rising constantly in both firms and individuals due to the wide range
of usage. The poly-silicon businesswe are aiming at is interrelated to a host of other business sectors.
Due to the wide range of use, our product has infinite potential for usage in diverse fields. Investment
in MEC will in short term lead to a huge market with interlinked fields, promising a potential of
becoming one of the most influential magnates in the Middle East. In the long term, the benefits will
be expanded to other sectors of businesses explained below.
① Photovoltaic System – Energy Production and Eco-Friendly Development
Photovoltaic system power generation is a power generating
system that does not make any other carbon dioxide. The
environmentally friendly system is attracting many nations to
employ it to mainland.The feed stock of the solar cell, or the
basic unit of the photovoltaic system module, is poly-silicon.
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia’s Rub’ al Khali Desert, which
covers more than 95% of the mainland of Saudi Arabia,has
potential silicon element reserves with conditions for cheap
and easy exploitation. Silicon is the element which we can
easily find out from the earth’s crust, and since the Rub’ al
Khali desert is composed of uncontaminated materials from
Figure 3-1 Photovoltaic the Earth’s crust, Saudi Arabia has the potential to become
power generation plant the best producer of poly-silicon and thereby the
photovoltaic system module.
As demonstrated in figure 3-2, poly-
silicon is directly deployed to make
the photovoltaic system’s solar cell,
the kernel components of eco-
friendly power generating system.
Investment to our company and
thereby poly-silicon market will
contribute to the development of
clean energy.
Figure 3-2. Steps for the photovoltaic power generation
There are many South Korean firms which signed contracts
and MOUs (Memorandum of Understandings) with Saudi
Figure 3-3 Proto model of Solar House Arabian feed stock companies. The Korean energy company
KCC, for example,started to cooperate with our company at
December 2010.Other Korean energy firms, STX and Millinet, signed a contract with the Saudi
Arabian government and firms to build a factory at the Saudi Arabian city Yanbu and Jubail. The
Saudi Arabian government and our company are willing to employ Korea’s high technology of
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5. producing the perfect nine-nine poly-silicon1. Such advanced
Korean technology will benefit both MEC and Korean investors.
This type of photovoltaic system could be applied to the
environmentally-friendly technology including the electric car
(or battery car) and the solar house. An electric car, which can
run only by solar energy generated while gathering light under
the bright sun when parked, will greatly reduce the use of
petroleum, the main culprit of global warming and destruction
of the earth’s atmosphere and ozone layers.
Figure 3-4 Proto model of
Solar houses can also preserve the environment by curtailing Electric Car
the usage of petroleum. These technologies applied will help
both the economy of Saudi Arabia and the investors.
Investmentto the poly-silicon technology cancontribute to
environment protection.
② Modernized Information Technology – IT business
Although more renown for solar energy related products, the
original use of poly-silicon was for the CPU. The CPU, an
indispensable component for electrical devices,is made of
materials including silicon. For further technological
Figure 3-5 New CPU substrate development of the CPU, highly effective, high-quality silicon is
required. Since poly-silicon contains higher photo-sensibility and electrical stability, it is suitable for
the main source of the CPU substrate. Our high purity poly-silicon can bring an opportunity for
development to IT venture corporations.
If our company is able to produce large amounts of poly-silicon with advanced Korean technology
combine with investment, our company can repay such trust on our company in forms of high-quality
poly-silicon with a relatively cheap price and thereby fostering development in solar energy and IT
technology of Korea, which are business sectors essential to understanding the future society. These
business areas also have potential markets where South Korean and Saudi Arabian technology and
feed stocks can achieve successful overseas expansion toward developed countries. There are many
benefits which this relationship, if accepted, can provide.
4. Conclusion
Although Saudi Arabia has all the conditions of development, including social stability and
economic wealth, it was rather underestimated until now. The investment and attention from South
Korean investors will lead to a relationship beneficial for both sides. We promise our investors that
Saudi Arabian poly-silicon business will not fail them. The development of the Saudi Arabian poly-
silicon business will provide Korea with diverse advantages including a foundation for technological
development in fields of solar energy and IT. Saudi Arabia and Korea has many opportunities of
cooperation. We believe that South Korean investors will be able to recognize the value of this
opportunity. We hope that South Korean investors and MEC will become one of the best business
partners in the world.
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Nine-nine poly-silicon means the highest purity and efficiency of poly-silicon, 99.99999999%
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