2017 Annual General Meeting Held, Business Strategy and Key Business Plans Confirmed
New Executives Appointed, Including Dongbu HiTek CEO Choi Chang-sik and SK Materials CEO Lim Min-kyu

The Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (Chairman Park Sung-wook) held its 2017 Annual General Meeting on the 23rd at the InterContinental Hotel in COEX, Samseong-dong, Seoul.

In his opening remarks, Park Sung-wook, Chairman of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, stated, "With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the role and importance of the semiconductor industry are growing even more," and emphasized, "In a situation where economic conditions are challenging due to changes in the global economic order, what is needed above all for leading innovation and development is mutual growth and shared growth."

Park Sung-wook, Chairman of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association

Citing the 'Pattern Wafer Support Project,' which has established itself as a flagship win-win program of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, Chairman Park stated, "It is highly encouraging to see the fruits of a virtuous cycle resulting in equipment localization and purchasing by device manufacturers through cooperation and support across various sectors of the domestic semiconductor industry. This year, we will also focus on building a virtuous cycle structure among large, medium, and small semiconductor companies in every area of the semiconductor industry ecosystem through such co-growth programs."

In January 2015, the Association launched the "Pattern Wafer Support Project" with the support of Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Dongbu HiTek to provide test pattern wafers to domestic small and medium-sized semiconductor equipment and materials companies. A "pattern wafer" is a wafer engraved with fine circuit patterns and is an essential item for verifying the performance of semiconductor equipment. Producing pattern wafers requires high-priced lithography equipment costing around 100 billion won per unit. Equipment developed by the pattern wafer beneficiary companies leads to purchases by domestic device manufacturers and also becomes an individual export item for those companies. Currently, there are approximately 25 beneficiary companies, and the number of pattern wafers supported is increasing annually, reaching 1,630 in 2015, 2,000 in 2016, and 2,500 this year.

"2017, a More Critical Year Than Any Other": Emphasizing All-Out Cooperation with Member Companies

Meanwhile, the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association finalized its 2017 business strategy and key business plans at its regular general meeting held on this day.

The key business strategies include strengthening the semiconductor industry ecosystem, fostering top talent to resolve workforce supply and demand issues, and expanding domestic and international cooperation. Specific key tasks include supporting the founding, growth, and M&A of early-stage semiconductor companies through a 200 billion won Semiconductor Growth Fund; establishing a system to support fabless prototype production by building cooperation models between domestic foundry and fabless companies; linking the training of specialized semiconductor design personnel with employment; strengthening the R&D foundation of the semiconductor industry; developing and proposing standards for IoT and automotive semiconductors; and expanding domestic and international cooperation in response to changes in the international trade environment.

Meanwhile, at this regular general meeting, Choi Chang-sik, CEO of Dongbu HiTek, and Lim Min-kyu, CEO of SK Materials, were appointed as new executives, and Son Bo-ik, CEO of Siliconworks, was appointed as a new executive due to a change in the CEO position.