Ministry of SMEs and Startups Tackles Key Challenges for Small Fabless Companies... "Achieving Semiconductor Super-Gap"

Minister Lee Young Visits Bundang Fabless Companies
Fabless Development Direction Forum...Listening to 'Top 3 On-Site Core Difficulties'
Policy Fund Expansion, New Contract Departments, Prototype Production Support Planned
"Fabless Crucial for Semiconductor Super-Gap Realization...Will Provide Active Support"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwak Min-jae] On the 16th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups visited "Qualitas Semiconductor," located in Bundang-gu, Seongnam City, and held a forum with system semiconductor design-specialized companies, so-called fab-less companies.

Fab-less refers to companies that focus solely on design by outsourcing chip production to foundries in the system semiconductor industry, where the design and production of semiconductor chips are divided.

According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the on-site visit was arranged to listen to the field difficulties of fab-less companies and discuss solutions and directions for the development of the domestic semiconductor industry. Five fab-less startup companies proven for their technology domestically and internationally (Qualitas Semiconductor, Mobilint, Sapeon, FuriosaAI, Nemesis) and two experts including venture capitalists attended the forum.

South Korea maintains the world's number one market share (56.9%) in memory semiconductors, but in the system semiconductor sector, which is twice the size of the memory semiconductor market globally, it remains at a 3% share. To enhance the competitiveness of the system semiconductor industry, innovative and creative fab-less companies are crucial, and there has been a continuous opinion that the public and private sectors must join forces to create a domestic ecosystem for this purpose.

The global fab-less industry is dominated by the United States with a 68% market share. Taiwan and China hold 21% and 9%, respectively, while South Korea has not surpassed the 1% level.

Upon arrival, Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups began the schedule by touring the semiconductor design process guided by Kim Doo-ho, CEO of Qualitas Semiconductor.

During the subsequent forum, various difficulties faced by fab-less companies and opinions on the development of the domestic system semiconductor ecosystem were shared. The companies attending the forum unanimously expressed the need for government attention and support due to ▲ enormous initial capital required from development to mass production ▲ shortage of design personnel ▲ foundry supply shortages.

Minister Lee Young, who presided over the forum, stated, "Today’s meeting was arranged by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to actively support innovative and creative fab-less companies, which are important for South Korea to realize a 'semiconductor super-gap.' We will prioritize solving the 'three core field difficulties' that the fab-less industry desires."

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to address the three core field difficulties by ▲ establishing a 'Super-gap Fund' to expand venture capital for early fab-less companies ▲ creating a 'System Semiconductor Contract Department' to resolve the shortage of fab-less design personnel ▲ hosting the 'Fab-less Challenge Competition' next month (in cooperation with Samsung Electronics, supporting prototype production) to foster a mutually beneficial system semiconductor ecosystem between fab-less companies and foundries.

Oh Ji-young, head of the Future Industry Strategy Team at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "We will strive to prepare practical and prompt support measures by referring to the opinions discussed at today’s forum."

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