With high interest from the central and local governments in strengthening capabilities in the advanced semiconductor industry, a bidding war has begun between regions over the semiconductor specialized complex. Gumi City, which led the nascent stages of the domestic electronics industry, sought regional growth by specializing in advanced semiconductor materials and components.

On the 12th, a National Assembly forum on attracting a specialized complex for advanced semiconductor materials and components to Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province was held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido. This meeting, held to discuss attracting regional specialized complexes and strengthening national advanced semiconductor capabilities, was attended by representatives from the legislative and executive branches, as well as universities and companies, who put their heads together to enhance the regional semiconductor ecosystem.

In his opening remarks, Baek Hong-ju, CEO of Wonik Q&C and Chairman of the Gyeongbuk Semiconductor Industry Super-Gap Development Committee, assessed that “in an era of rapid semiconductor change, the localization of materials and components, triggered by Japan’s export controls on key semiconductor process materials, currently hovers in the 30% range and appears to be gradually losing momentum.” Chairman Baek, who believes that the entire country of Korea could be transformed into a Silicon Valley, emphasized that “in particular, Gumi City can become a world-class semiconductor materials and components supply complex based on its transportation infrastructure and supply chain.”

The trend has shifted from global value chains (GVCs) to bloc value chains (BVCs) among allies, and the paradigm is now shifting toward national value chains (NVCs). Lee Hyun-kwon, Chairman of the Gumi Specialized Industrial Complex Working Committee, who gave the presentation, cited the concentration of over 360 semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment companies, complete infrastructure, and scalability in response to the question of why a specialized industrial complex for semiconductor materials and parts should be located in Gumi.

Leading companies such as SK Siltron (Si·SiC wafers), KEC (power semiconductor devices), MagnaChip Semiconductor (DDI, power semiconductor devices), LG Innotek (FCBGA), and LB Lusem (BGBM, COF packaging) are located in the Gumi Industrial Complex, and small and medium-sized materials, parts, and equipment companies have moved in around them.

Chairman Lee stated, “We have secured 810,000 pyeong for the planned expansion of the 5th National Industrial Complex and plan to establish a semiconductor specialized complex by building industrial water, a high-purity ultrapure water demonstration plant for semiconductors, eco-friendly power supply, and a resource recycling system for semiconductor manufacturing waste.” He added that this would also be of great help to companies' ESG responses.

It was mentioned that future scalability can be achieved through the creation of ecosystems for KEC and MagnaChip's automotive power semiconductors, Gumi's defense, electronics, and FPGA semiconductors for upstream industries, and the vision of specialized back-end supply complexes for materials, parts, and equipment in the K-Belt, Gwangju-Jeonnam AI Complex, and Busan Power Complex.

Chairman Lee stated, “Since Gumi lacks integrated chipmakers or equipment manufacturers, it is appropriate to collaborate with IDMs and equipment manufacturers concentrated in the capital area,” and unveiled a development roadmap aimed at completing the domestic semiconductor ecosystem through infrastructure building and collaborative partnerships by 2027, and becoming a global semiconductor production hub by 2032 with the goal of ecosystem advancement and global leadership.

The panelists attending the forum emphasized the importance of industry-academia collaboration, stating, "With companies facing significant difficulties in securing manpower, regions need to give more thought to workforce training and supply." They pointed out that the phenomenon of talented individuals avoiding regional areas must be taken into account, and furthermore, the focus should be on training and matching high-level personnel with master's and doctoral degrees, rather than just unskilled labor.

In addition, it was pointed out that “chipmakers are already struggling just to keep up with global competition, so they cannot use unproven materials, parts, and equipment.” Lee Jong-soo, Vice President of Business at the Semiconductor & Display Technology Society, suggested, “We must move in the direction of establishing testbeds for materials, parts, and equipment in specialized complexes to raise the maturity of technology and products and connect them to end users.”