The semiconductor industry is jointly responding to changes in the global semiconductor environment through a large-scale investment of 56 trillion won this year.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a 'Semiconductor Investment Promotion Meeting' at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul on the 16th, attended by major semiconductor companies.

At this meeting, the government and industry discussed measures to stimulate investment for strengthening the semiconductor industry supply chain and innovating competitiveness, and listened to the management difficulties of companies to explore support measures.

First, the Semiconductor Association announced a domestic investment plan worth 56.7 trillion won in 2022 based on a survey of the industry's investment plans. This represents a 10% increase compared to the 51.6 trillion won investment performance in 2021.

In particular, among this year's semiconductor investment plans, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the materials, parts, and equipment (Sobujang) and back-end process sectors announced investment plans of approximately 1.8 trillion won, while SMEs in the system semiconductor sectors, including fabless and power semiconductors, announced investment plans of approximately 1.3 trillion won.

The companies participating in the meeting proposed various measures to strengthen the competitiveness of our companies regarding manpower, facility investment, and research and development.

Lee Jung-bae, Chairman of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, emphasized that excellent professional manpower is essential to compete and win against global companies, and requested more active and bold policy support to foster high-level semiconductor talent without being constrained by university student and faculty quotas.

In addition, for companies making large-scale facility investments, it was suggested that overseas cases in the U.S., China, Taiwan, and Japan should be reviewed to ensure that infrastructure, financial support, and regulatory easing are in line with those of other countries.

Along with this, emphasizing that while the semiconductor technology war is a race against time where a six-month gap determines victory or defeat, if support is provided two to three years after a preliminary feasibility study, overseas competitors will already be far ahead, the opinion was also raised that the exemption from preliminary feasibility studies currently stipulated in the Special Act on Advanced Strategic Industries should be effectively and actively implemented.

Regarding proposals from the semiconductor industry concerning investment and manpower, Minister Moon Seung-wook stated, “As semiconductor companies are making significant contributions to job creation and strengthening the ecosystem and supply chain by planning large-scale investments exceeding 56 trillion won this year, following domestic investments of over 50 trillion won last year, the government will fully support the investments of semiconductor companies.”

To this end, “semiconductor specialized complex including electricity, water, and testbeds He expressed his determination, stating, “We will support bold investment in infrastructure and establish a permanent ‘semiconductor investment support organization’ involving relevant ministries and local governments to actively remove regulations that hinder investment.”

Regarding the cultivation of excellent personnel, it was stated, “We will increase the university enrollment quota for semiconductor-related fields by about 700 by this year, and establish a new specialized semiconductor education curriculum this year to train 1,200 specialized personnel annually.”

He emphasized that in order to foster master's and doctoral-level talent, which is the core of semiconductor technology competition, they would designate specialized 'semiconductor graduate schools' in major fields such as AI semiconductors, power semiconductors, advanced materials, components, and packaging, and provide intensive support for more than 10 years.

Minister Moon Seung-wook stated, “The semiconductor industry is a reliable pillar of our economy that has produced record-breaking exports and global No. 1 companies even amidst the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, and semiconductor companies are the most important economic security assets in the era of global supply chain warfare.” He added, “Just as the public and private sectors have joined forces to overcome the challenges facing the semiconductor industry, such as successive supply disruptions in major countries and Japan’s export restrictions on semiconductor materials, the government and industry must continue to join hands and make an all-out effort to maintain the industry’s leading edge and strengthen the supply chain.”