'SEMICON Korea 2024', which provides a glimpse into the future of the semiconductor industry and brings together the global semiconductor supply chain in one place, has officially opened.

SEMICON Korea 2024 will be held at COEX in Seoul for three days from January 31 to February 2.

About 500 companies will showcase their cutting-edge semiconductor technologies through approximately 2,100 booths, and the event will be attended by global chip makers such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron, GlobalFoundries, Infineon, and Kioxia, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, making it an event where visitors can see the semiconductor industry at a glance.

This year’s SEMICON Korea will be held under the theme of ‘Innovation Beyond Boundaries.’

The event is designed to showcase collaboration and innovation across technologies, countries, and companies to manufacture semiconductor chips required for cutting-edge applications.

During the 30 or so conferences held during SEMICON Korea, approximately 200 semiconductor experts will participate as speakers and share insights on the latest semiconductor manufacturing technologies, sustainability, smart manufacturing, and other key industry issues and market trends in line with the advancement of cutting-edge industries.

The conference will be held over three days, starting with an opening ceremony and keynote speeches.

The keynote speeches included: △ SK Hynix Vice President Kim Chun-hwan giving a presentation on 'Changes in Technology Trend to Overcome the Integration Limit of Memory Devices', △ Merck's Electronics Business CCO Anand Nambiar giving a presentation on 'Digital and Data in the Materials World', △ Eliyan's Sean Lundy giving a presentation on 'Eliyan Unleashed: Elevating Package Performance and Accelerating Memory Chiplets Adoption', and △ NAVER's AI Center Director Ha Jung-woo giving a presentation on 'NAVER's strategy in Era of Paradigm Shift by Frontier AI'.

As a technology conference, the SEMI Technology Symposium (STS) divides the semiconductor manufacturing process into six sections (Lithography, Materials, Device, Etch, CMP & Cleaning, Package) and shares trends in the latest semiconductor manufacturing technology. In addition to major chip makers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, major semiconductor small and medium-sized enterprises and academia are participating to present a roadmap for innovation in semiconductor manufacturing technology from the perspective of the entire supply chain.

The MI (Metrology and Inspection) Forum brings together leading companies in the semiconductor industry's metrology field to share insights from various perspectives to provide technological solutions tailored to the changing industrial environment.

As the importance of the semiconductor post-processing field grows, the demand for next-generation test solutions is also increasing. To support this demand, leading companies in the test field and major chip makers participate in the Test Forum to present the latest technologies of each company and the direction of more advanced test technologies.

The Smart Manufacturing Forum will highlight the new potential of smart manufacturing driven by AI and machine learning.

The Sustainability Forum discusses ways to achieve sustainability, a hot topic in the industry, and shares industry trends and best practices related to net zero.

The SiC Power Semiconductor Summit is a conference being held for the first time this year and will present the latest market and technology trends in SiC power semiconductors. It will cover a wide range of topics including supply chain analysis of the SiC industry and wafering technology, epitaxy quality control, doping technology and device research and development, as well as packaging solutions and reliability of SiC power modules.

Business conferences include: △Market Trend Forum to share the latest information on the semiconductor industry and the market outlook for packaging and equipment, △Investment Forum to attract investment from Korean companies, △Startup Summit to discover and foster promising domestic semiconductor companies, △Meet the Expert! to encourage the influx of excellent talent into the semiconductor industry, and △Women in Technology to promote the value of diversity within the industry.

Additionally, during SEMICON Korea, SEMI holds the SEMI Awards ceremony to honor companies that have contributed to the development of the domestic semiconductor industry.

This year's SEMI Awards will feature two awards: the 'SEMI Innovation Award' and the 'SEMI Recognition Award'.

Cho Hyun-dae, President of SEMI Korea, said, “I hope that SEMICON Korea will serve as an opportunity to widely publicize the status of the Korean semiconductor industry, which plays a key role in the global semiconductor industry,” adding, “In addition, SEMI will continue to play a role in providing new business opportunities to domestic small and medium-sized enterprises through various programs such as SEMICON Korea.”