"A Special Act Including Tax Benefits and Workforce Development Support Must Be Enacted to Enhance Semiconductor Competitiveness"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Experts have expressed the opinion that a special law should be enacted to support domestic semiconductor companies with tax benefits, incentives, government-led training of talented personnel, and ecosystem establishment in order for the Korean semiconductor industry to survive the global semiconductor hegemony competition.

The Korean Semiconductor Display Technology Society, the National Academy of Engineering of Korea, the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, and the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association held a "Seminar on Strengthening the Global Competitiveness of the Semiconductor Industry" on the 28th. Attendees included Park Jae-geun, president of the Korean Semiconductor Display Technology Society, executives from semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, automotive companies including Hyundai Mobis, and academic experts such as Professor Lee Jong-ho of Seoul National University and Professor Lee Byung-hoon of POSTECH.

The seminar was held to seek and discuss solutions to strengthen domestic semiconductor competitiveness amid the ongoing global semiconductor shortage, as governments of the United States, China, Europe, Japan, and other countries are announcing mid- to long-term semiconductor support policies. Experts emphasized that current policies may cause missed opportunities in the global semiconductor competition and stressed the need to enact a special law to support domestic companies.

In a presentation titled "Background Explanation and Suggestions for the Special Act on Next-Generation Semiconductor Development," President Park Jae-geun expressed concern, saying, "The United States, Europe, Japan, China, and Taiwan are strengthening their domestic semiconductor competitiveness through government-led support, but the level of support from our government is very low," and added, "Even in the memory semiconductor sector where we have strengths, overseas companies are catching up with the Korean semiconductor industry through technology research and development (R&D)."

President Park mentioned the need for government support policies that are institutionalized and revolutionary to improve the production competitiveness of domestic semiconductor devices and materials, parts, and equipment (SoBuJang) companies. He emphasized the necessity of actively supporting the semiconductor industry by providing semiconductor investment tax incentives, infrastructure support, and reviewing the three major industrial laws. The tax incentives proposed by President Park are ▲30% for intelligent memory semiconductors ▲50% for automotive semiconductors ▲40% for foundry including APs ▲40% for SoBuJang and packaging. He also stressed the need to establish a government-led supply-demand ecosystem for electric vehicle semiconductors and policies for training excellent advanced semiconductor personnel.

Industry officials attending the seminar mentioned that active government support is essential for ecosystem establishment and talent development. Jang Jae-ho, Executive Director of Hyundai Mobis, referred to the recent automotive semiconductor supply issues, diagnosing that "Currently, the supply disruption impact on automakers has no special countermeasures unless foundry companies switch production volumes." He added, "The cause is that the development, utilization, and production of automotive semiconductors mostly depend on overseas companies," and said that automotive semiconductors are representative items of multi-variety small-quantity production, requiring government support to overcome this.

Lee Yoon-jong, Vice President of DB Hitek, said, "Automotive semiconductors require customized design with demand companies and need reliability and stability, necessitating long-term close cooperation between demand and supply. This is a challenging area for semiconductor foundry manufacturers," and added, "To revitalize automotive semiconductors, active government support is needed from process to mass production."

Voices were raised that a long-term perspective is necessary in terms of talent development as well. Kim Hee-seung, Executive Director of Samsung Electronics, said, "Although the number of semiconductor industry workers is increasing, the demand for personnel is also rising, and within semiconductor-related majors, students are gravitating toward artificial intelligence (AI) and software, resulting in a decrease in personnel directly responsible for semiconductors," and added, "It is necessary to expand the number of students and professors in semiconductor-related departments and establish semiconductor contract departments to stably supply excellent personnel to companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.