Korea-US Launch 'Semiconductor Industry Cooperation Channel'... Review Supply Chain Risks and Explore Investment Cooperation Plans

The 1st Korea-US Semiconductor Partnership Dialogue Held
Annual Semiconductor Cooperation Dialogue to be Held Every Fall
The 2nd Semiconductor Dialogue to be Held in Korea Next Year

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The governments of Korea and the United States have officially begun to establish cooperation measures for the semiconductor industry.

On the 9th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that it held the 1st Korea-US Semiconductor Partnership Dialogue.

Considering the COVID-19 situation, the meeting was held via video conference. On the Korean side, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology, and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) participated. On the US side, the Department of Commerce, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), SRC (Semiconductor Research Corporation), Select USA, and the international association Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) attended.

The semiconductor dialogue was finally decided at the ministerial meeting between the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the US Department of Commerce last November to produce concrete outcomes from the Korea-US summit held in May this year.

At this meeting, both countries expressed their will and expectations to restore the global semiconductor supply chain and conducted detailed discussions by sector through the Supply Chain Working Group and the Industrial Cooperation Working Group for Korea-US semiconductor cooperation.

In the Supply Chain Working Group discussions, the current status of the semiconductor supply chains of both countries and directions for strengthening future supply chains were explained. In the Industrial Cooperation Working Group, representative institutions from both countries discussed cooperation measures in technology development, workforce, and investment sectors.

In particular, the Korean side proposed potential technology development cooperation projects such as power semiconductors expected to see increased demand in new industries like electric vehicles and renewable energy, and carbon reduction process and technology development.

The two governments agreed to hold the semiconductor cooperation dialogue alternately every fall starting from this meeting. The institutions participating in the semiconductor partnership dialogue plan to officially start discussions from this meeting, hold the next working group meeting in the first quarter of next year, and report the results of one year of working group discussions and the progress of cooperation projects at the 2nd Semiconductor Dialogue to be held in Korea next fall.

Going forward, the Supply Chain Working Group will analyze future demand and supply of the semiconductor industry, review supply chain risk factors in advance, and discuss measures to strengthen the supply chain accordingly. The Industrial Cooperation Working Group will involve public and private research and industry sectors to share their semiconductor technology development roadmaps, discover projects requiring joint research for cooperation, and discuss related workforce exchange cooperation measures.

To this end, SRC, the first industry-academia research consortium in the semiconductor industry in the US, and the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology, which plans and oversees industrial technology research and development (R&D) in Korea, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to support bilateral technology and workforce cooperation.

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