As the AI semiconductor market is rapidly emerging as a blue ocean, the domestic semiconductor industry is moving quickly to take the lead in the related market and lead technology. Amid growing calls for ecosystem creation, a place has been created where domestic semiconductor companies can come together and promise cooperation.

On the 2nd, the AI Semiconductor Cooperation Forum was launched. This event, attended by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Science and ICT, is creating a broad ecosystem for seeking cooperation between domestic semiconductor demand and supply companies.

The launching ceremony was attended by representatives of demand companies from the seven major domestic industries, as well as semiconductor-related companies such as IP companies, fabless companies, foundries, and post-processing companies. They signed a business agreement to activate the AI semiconductor ecosystem and sought to create an ecosystem.

The companies in demand included: △Automobile sector: Korea Automobile Mobility Industry Association, Hyundai Motor Company; △Machinery and robot sector: Korea Machinery Industry Promotion Association, Korea Robot Industry Association, HD Hyundai, POSCO ICT, HD Hyundai Robotics; △IoT home appliance sector: Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Industry Promotion Association, LG Electronics; △Mobile and server sector: Korea ICT Promotion Association, Naver Cloud, and KT Cloud; △Bio and medical device sector: Korea Medical Device Cooperative, InBody; △Energy sector: Korea Southern Power; △Defense sector: Hanwha Systems, LIG Nex1.

IP companies that attended included OpenEdge Technology and Qualitas Semiconductor, while fabless companies included DeepX, Rebellion, Mobilint, Sapion, Above Semiconductor, Furiosa AI, and Telechips.

SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, Korea's leading memory and foundry companies, participated, while Gaonchips attended as a design house, Wonik IPS and Dongjin Semichem as material and equipment companies, and Hana Micron attended as a post-processing company.
The AI semiconductor value chain policy meeting between companies was held, and is divided into the 'Demand-Manufacturing Division', which discovers cooperative projects between demand and supply companies, and the 'Design-Manufacturing Division', which discusses ecosystem creation. In particular, the government is said to be planning to support the development of on-device AI semiconductors between demand and supply companies and to support development costs when matching.

Through the System Semiconductor Verification Support Center construction project, necessary testing and verification services will be provided to AI semiconductor companies starting in the second half of this year, and financial support through the semiconductor ecosystem fund, support for next-generation intelligent semiconductor technology development, and PIM artificial intelligence semiconductor industry R&D will continue to be promoted.

The main support projects are divided into four sectors: △R&D △Infrastructure △Demand Linkage △Human Resources/Finance. R&D supports the development of NPU and PIM, and infrastructure is centered on the establishment of national subsidies for the production of prototypes of 10 nanometers or less by AI semiconductor companies and the expansion of the scale to 5 billion won by 2024, including verification of the construction of a cloud data center based on domestic AI semiconductors.

In addition, in the case of AI semiconductor product development matching between demand and supply companies in demand linkage, 50% of the total development cost will be supported as a project fee. In the human resources and finance sector, △300 billion won will be raised to support domestic design and small and medium-sized enterprises by operating an AI semiconductor graduate school and △supporting the semiconductor ecosystem.
Kang Kyung-sung, First Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, “With the advent of on-device AI, AI is spreading across industries and demand for related development is skyrocketing,” adding, “A golden opportunity has opened up for domestic semiconductor companies, and collaboration across value chains to seize this opportunity is more important than ever.” Accordingly, it promised support for businesses in areas such as demand linkage, infrastructure, and finance.

Kang Do-hyun, Second Vice Minister of Science and ICT, said, “In order to prepare for the AI era, organic interconnection and cooperative growth of AI semiconductors, which represent hardware competitiveness in the AI field, and AI, software, and cloud are important.” He added, “We will actively support the creation of a domestic technology ecosystem and shared growth by investing in low-power AI semiconductor technological innovations, such as the advancement of Korean NPUs and the development of neuromorphic and PIM technologies.”