[Column] The Disappearance of Korea's 'Semiconductor Star'

"The greatest crisis in South Korea's semiconductor industry is that the timing for nurturing talent was missed."

The sharp remark from a domestic expert I met while covering the 'Semiconductor Talent Survival of the Fittest' series still echoes in my mind. The consequences of ignoring the cultivation of semiconductor specialists, emphasized by various sectors for the past decade, are now fully emerging.

The biggest concern lies in the perception of students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and natural sciences. It was hard to believe that there could be such indifference toward the semiconductor industry, which is crucial not only for the national economy but also for security. However, through their stories, I realized that the rigid structure of our society plays a significant role in making it difficult to attract talent to the semiconductor industry. This is because there is no reason to give up the high income, often in the hundreds of millions of won, that doctors or pharmacists can earn.

One contributing factor to this background is the lack of role models to attract talent. Figures like Jin Dae-je, former Minister of Information and Communication who developed memory technology, Hwang Chang-gyu, former Samsung Electronics president who formulated Hwang's Law, and Lee Yoon-woo, former Samsung Electronics vice chairman, are no longer present. Lee Kun-hee, the late Samsung chairman, once said of them, "Samsung may not have genius-level talent, but it has three quasi-genius-level talents." This is why a 'semiconductor star' who can provide vision and inspiration at this moment, like Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, or Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, is needed.

We know the solution. Experts have already proposed remedies. However, the conditions to act on them have not been established. Expanding the number of professors and students at universities in the Seoul metropolitan area requires addressing issues of fairness with other departments and enduring opposition from non-metropolitan universities. Competing countries each have their own circumstances but are moving forward to resolve these challenges.

One cannot help but recall the saying, "The best time to act is when you think it's too late." It is necessary to start by making efforts to communicate how important and valuable the semiconductor industry is for attracting talent. Pride must be fostered for government incentives to be effective. It is time to refine strategies once again based on the value that "talent is the future."

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