Seoul unveils $600b push to become world's top chipmaker
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in (centre) during a visit to a Samsung plant in Pyeongtaek yesterday. Samsung and SK Hynix will lead the push of investment in semiconductor research and production in the next decade.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
SEOUL • South Korea unveiled ambitious plans to spend roughly more than 510 trillion won (S$600 billion) to build the world's biggest chipmaking base over the next decade, joining China and the United States in a global race to dominate the key technology.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will lead the ambitious push of investment in semiconductor research and production in the years to 2030 under a national blueprint devised by President Moon Jae-in's administration.
They will be among 153 companies fuelling the decade-long push, intended to safeguard the nation's most economically crucial industry. Mr Moon got a briefing from chip executives on the initiative yesterday during a visit to the country's most advanced chip factory, a Samsung plant south of Seoul.
Samsung is boosting its spending by 30 per cent to US$151 billion (S$201.6 billion) till 2030, while Hynix is committing US$97 billion to expansion at existing facilities in addition to its US$106 billion plan for four new plants in Yongin, its co-chief executive officer Park Jung-ho said during the event.
The investment comes at a time when the US, China and the European Union seek to shore up their semiconductor capabilities after a global chip shortage exposed a reliance on a handful of Asian manufacturers and hobbled efforts to repair pandemic-scarred economies.
Shortages are spreading from vehicles to smartphones to displays, elevating semiconductors onto the agendas of governments including in Washington, Brussels and Beijing. At stake is a technology fundamental to ground-breaking advances ranging from artificial intelligence to autonomous vehicles to connected homes.
South Korea, a security ally of the US and a major exporter to China, has been walking a tightrope between the two while bolstering its own production prowess.
Semiconductors account for the largest share of South Korea's exports and chip exports are expected to double to US$200 billion by 2030, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.
Likening semiconductors to rice - a global dietary staple - the ministry called them "strategic weapons" in a race for superior technology intensifying among not just firms but also nations.
BLOOMBERG