Our country's global non-memory semiconductor market share is only 3.3%, which is 1/3 of Japan's and 1/2 of China's, and even that is concentrated in the three companies of Samsung Electronics, LX Semicon, and SK Hynix. Therefore, it has been found that it is urgent to establish a national system semiconductor strategy based on a cool-headed and multi-faceted capability diagnosis.

According to the report titled 'Global Non-Memory Semiconductor Market Landscape and Policy Implications' recently published by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET, President Joo Hyun), the global non-memory semiconductor market size in 2022 is expected to reach a total of KRW 593 trillion. By country, the United States will take an overwhelming 1st place (KRW 323 trillion, 54.5%), followed by Europe in 2nd place (KRW 70 trillion, 11.8%), Taiwan in 3rd place (KRW 61 trillion, 10.3%), Japan in 4th place (KRW 55 trillion, 9.2%), and China in 5th place (KRW 39 trillion, 6.5%). Korea ranked last among the major countries participating in the global semiconductor value chain with a 6th place (KRW 20 trillion, 3.3%).

Last year, Korea's total non-memory (including in-house and foundry consignment production) semiconductor sales amounted to $15.1 billion (approximately 20 trillion won), of which Samsung Electronics ranked first with $11.2 billion (approximately 15 trillion won, 73.9%), LX Semicon ranked second with $1.7 billion (approximately 2.2 trillion won, 11.2%), and SK Hynix ranked third with $890 million (approximately 1.2 trillion won, 5.9%), showing that the top three large corporations accounted for more than 90%.


Excluding ICT final input components such as smartphones and televisions, where these large companies have secured stable global sales channels, Korea's presence in the global non-memory market is minimal. This is a passage that makes us realize the extreme difficulty of securing sales channels and the high wall of the global market despite decades of support policies for system semiconductors and the fabless industry.

The United States is the birthplace of integrated circuits, PCs, and smartphones, and has a monopoly on most of the markets for general-purpose processors such as CPUs and APs, wired and wireless communications, GPUs, and FPGAs.

Europe has strengths in embedded system-related components, such as MCUs, discrete and power management integrated circuits (PMICs), and optical/non-optical sensors, in key demand industries such as automotive and industrial robots.

Japan, like Europe, also has some competitive advantages in areas with specific demand, such as MCUs and discrete semiconductors for automobiles and precision machinery, as well as in areas with unique and general demand, such as CMOS image sensors and precision communication devices.

Taiwan has strengths in 'market-oriented selection and concentration', that is, in certain device groups with high input demand, such as smartphones, tablets, and PCs.

China has a broad manufacturing portfolio, with companies across a wide range of components.


As we enter the era of the 'semiconductor war' triggered by the US-China hegemony competition, our government and companies are also seeking to expand resource investment with the goal of developing the non-memory industry.

Kyunghee University The vice-researcher said, “Even if we invest a lot of resources, if the possibility of our companies developing a market is low or even if they succeed, the size of the single-device market is not large, there is concern about the gap with the goal of securing the appropriateness of budget use and economic security leverage.” He added, “In order to prevent waste of limited national resources and find practical alternatives to achieve the goal, it is urgent to establish a national strategy based on a clear understanding of the complex diversity of the system semiconductor field and the differences from memory, as well as a multi-faceted understanding of the current state of domestic capabilities.”

System semiconductor devices by demand industry and application are very diverse, and the size of each company, strength technology area (domain), and business model are also very different. It is safe to say that the market is completely different in terms of the application, characteristics, and competitive advantage components of each device by product.

Kyunghee Kwon, a research fellow, and Sanghoon Kim, a senior research fellow, unanimously emphasized, “Not only in semiconductors, but in all fields, the success rate of new business models is not high, and a portfolio approach that encompasses a variety of devices and technologies is needed not only for major companies but also for the country.”