The government is investing 5 trillion won to specify the direction of national strategic technologies for 2024, including goals such as achieving an energy density of 350 Wh/kg for secondary batteries and designing high-efficiency semiconductors of 10 TFLOPS/1W or higher.

On the 29th, the Ministry of Science and ICT held the 3rd meeting of the Special Committee on National Strategic Technology under the National Science and Technology Advisory Council in the main conference room of the National Science and Technology Advisory Council.

At the meeting, discussions were held regarding a national R&D blueprint for securing cutting-edge strategic technologies, and the establishment of mission-oriented strategic roadmaps for national strategic technologies in the fields of secondary batteries, semiconductors, displays, and advanced mobility.

Recently, the government decided to increase investment in national strategic technologies by 6.3% year-on-year to 5 trillion won through the allocation and adjustment of the 2024 research and development budget, and has strengthened the development of next-generation source technologies that will change the future landscape, such as solid-state batteries and AI semiconductors, particularly in the fields of secondary batteries and semiconductors.

In addition, the 6G Industrial Technology Development Project was approved on the 23rd through the Preliminary Feasibility Study Steering Committee with a scale of 440 billion won over five years; notably, in the advanced mobility sector, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's K-UAM project was swiftly processed through the preliminary feasibility study fast-track for the first time, despite being a project submitted in the first quarter.A decision was made to proceed with a project.

Based on this, the roadmap applied a top-down approach to identify key gateway technologies for mission achievement through a mission-centric approach, and presented strategic quantitative goals that considered national necessity and feasibility, while ensuring connectivity and consistency with existing policies.

In addition, it presented key investment directions for mission achievement and securing core technologies through investment and policy linkages, along with measures to foster a strategic technology ecosystem, such as talent development, international cooperation, and institutional improvements.

Looking at the key missions by sector, in the case of secondary batteries, in order to actively respond to the global market penetration of China's main LFP batteries, it proposed achieving an energy density of 350 Wh/kg, which is the theoretical limit level, and securing key materials such as high-nickel cathode materials and silicon-based anode materials.

In addition, regarding next-generation secondary batteries, the development of core technologies for sodium ion batteries with a performance of 220 Wh/kg or higher was proposed to prepare for the intensifying global competition for minerals, which was a gap area in existing R&D investment, along with the commercialization of lithium metal batteries for super-gap performance and semi-solid-state batteries for realizing ultra-safety.

In preparation for the full-scale rollout of ultra-large AI, the semiconductor division has set next-generation design technology capable of achieving high efficiency of over 10 TFLOPS/1W even in ultra-low power situations, along with demonstration and software development for the full-scale application of our AI semiconductors in the cloud, as core goals.

In particular, in other key technologies such as memory, packaging, and power semiconductors, core mission technologies optimized for AI implementation were identified, including high-efficiency devices optimized for AI implementation, heterogeneous integrated chiplet packaging, and the mass production of compound power semiconductors such as silicon carbide.

Displays are pursuing the implementation of micro LED devices of 5 nm or smaller as a major mission to achieve ultra-high performance, such as low power consumption, high resolution, and high brightness.

In particular, the strategic roadmap involves experts from industry, academia, and research institutes leading the early commercialization of Micro LEDWe plan to focus on securing cost competitiveness, which is identified as a major bottleneck, by proposing the acquisition of high productivity and process inspection technologies, and apply these to future R&D investments.

In the case of advanced mobility, autonomous driving has presented specific technology acquisition goals beyond the existing regulation and infrastructure-centered approach to achieve the goal of commercializing Level 4 fully autonomous driving by 2027 set by relevant ministries.

We plan to actively pursue securing high-performance AI and computing technologies based on computational performance improved by more than 10 times compared to existing ones, as well as preempting standards and certifications related to security and safety that are expected to determine the direction of technological leadership in the global market that will soon blossom.

Kwon Seok-min, Director General of Science and Technology Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “Just as the advanced technology supply chain bloc was addressed as a top priority at the recent trilateral summit between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, securing super-gap strategic technologies is becoming a key link connecting the national economy and national security.” He added, “The establishment of this strategic roadmap, following the preemption of strategic technologies and the enactment of the Special Act on Strategic Technologies, marks the starting point for devising a detailed R&D strategy suitable for the era of technological hegemony competition.”