South Korea planned to spend around 47 billion won (40 million U.S. dollars) over the next six years in helping companies develop graphene that will be used to make touch screen panels and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels, the Commerce Ministry said Tuesday.

Graphene is an atomic-scale honeycomb lattice made of carbon atoms. The material is a one-atom thick layer of the mineral graphite, which can transfer electrons around 140 times faster than silicon, the current key material to make chips and transistors.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) said that it will invest around 47 billion won over the next six years in commercializing the graphene in the IT sector, noting that more than half of the government investment will be made for small businesses.

The graphene is currently in the early stage of commercialization, with advanced economies rushing to dominate the market through financial support to their respective companies. The European Union (EU) has been pushing to insert around 1 billion euros over the next 10 years to commercialize the material, while Britain decided to invest around 50 million pounds for the grephene development. Endi

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