Strategy to Foster the National High-tech Industry
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- Strategy to Foster the National High-tech Industry
The government will make all-out efforts to promote 6 key tasks including ①securing
an unmatchable level
of technological capacities, ②nurturing innovative talents, ③building regionally specialized
industrial
clusters, ④establishing a sound ecosystem, ⑤emerging as the world’s best investment destination,
⑥strengthening trade capacity with the goal of securing a dominant position in high-tech
industries
which are strategic assets that guarantee economic security and growth momentum in domestic businesses
and the nation itself.
1 Securing an unmatchable level of technological capacities
Building on our outstanding manufacturing capacity, the government will establish a Korean version of
IMEC, which are equipped with advanced research equipment, and make it as an innovative place where
research, education and demonstration of state-of-the-art technologies are carried out. A total of KRW
25 trillion will be invested for the next 5 years in R&D of 12 national strategic technologies such as
quantum technology and AI.
※ IMEC, headquartered in Belgium, is an international
R&D and workforce training institute designed for the semiconductor industry (industry, academia,
research experts from 96 countries). It develops advanced processes for semiconductor technology.
2 Nurturing innovative talents
A wide range of measures were reviewed to select outstanding students of the STEM field and provide
them with opportunities to receive overseas training programs in a bid to foster core talents who will lead
future innovation. Various incentives were also discussed to collaborate with industries to induce
foreign talents.
3 Building regionally specialized industrial clusters
Along with the currently designated industrial complexes, the government will select additional
regions to develop specialized industrial clusters designed for national advanced strategic
technologies and materials, parts, equipment, etc.
- National Advanced Strategic Technology Industrial Complex : Laying the foundation of high-tech industries by creating an innovative ecosystem
- Industrial Complex for Materials, Parts, Equipment : Enhancing the competitiveness edge in the industry of materials, parts, equipment by boosting the level of technological independence and solidifying cooperative channels among businesses
- Opportunity and Development Zone (under the legislative procedure) : Granting incentives and special cases concerning related regulations in order to encourage investment attraction in non-capital areas
4 Establishing a sound ecosystem
We will implement the ‘Mother Factory strategy’ where mother factories, a type of manufacturing
facility which is featured with advanced technologies and equipment, will be built at home, while
factories whose functions are mainly about mass production will be located in overseas countries.
5 Emerging as the world’s best investment destination
The level of Investment Tax Credit (ICT) will be significantly raised, and funds for core
infrastructure construction (approx. KRW 100 billion by 2023) such as electricity and water will be
provided in an attempt to make Korea the world’s most investor-friendly environment. In addition, by
introducing ‘Authorization and Permission Timeout System’ and ‘Global Standard Compliance’, where
unnecessary regulations and red tape that hamper corporate investment will be revamped, regulations
will be eased to similar levels of rival countries. In addition, measures to set up ‘state owned
holding companies’ for executing mid-and-long term investment strategies both home and abroad will be
reviewed.
6 Strengthening trade capacity
Korea will be one of the global norm setters by building cooperative channels with friendly nations
through IPEF and MSP, while actively interacting with sectors of business, academia, law and, research
to come up with ways to minimize negative impacts from nationalistic policies such as IRA and CBAM and
maximize benefits we can achieve at the same time. On top of that, [Act on Prevention of Divulgence
and Protection of Industrial Technology] will be revised to address issues that fall outside laws and
regulations, and, thereby, prevent leakage of high-technologies that will lead to damages on the
national interest.
- As for the 6 major high-tech industries, semiconductors, displays, rechargeable batteries, biotechnology, future vehicles and robots, where we have great strengths, the private sector will lead investment that amounts to KRW 550 trillion by 2026, while the government will provide substantial backing such as investment, human resources, technologies, and ecosystems through comprehensive strategies in order to make sure Korea becomes a global leader.
Strategy to Foster High-Tech Industry
| Technology | Vision | Specific Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Semiconductor | Making a quantum leap through the world’s largest cluster equipped with a sound ecosystem |
|
| Display | Regaining the no. 1 position in the global display market |
|
| Rechargeable Battery | Emerging as the global no. 1 rechargeable battery maker by 2030 |
|
| Biotechnology | Achieving the first place in biopharmaceutical manufacturing |
|
| Future Vehicle | Becoming the third-biggest future car manufacturer in the world |
|
| Robotics | Joining the ranks of global advanced robot-manufacturing nations |
|
World’s largest semiconductor cluster
With the Strategies to Foster National High-Tech Industries, the government will proceed with
strategies that will make a quantum leap by establishing the world’s largest mega cluster through
massive amount of investment made by the private sector.
-
The world’s largest cluster for advanced logic semiconductor in terms of the size of a single
complex will be constructed in Gyeonggi Province by attracting new investment worth KRW 300
trillion from the private sector by 2042.
- Up to 150 entities will be located in the cluster, including 5 new foundries that fabricate advanced semiconductors, excellent domestic companies in materials, parts, equipment, and fabless companies.
-
The world’s largest mega cluster for semiconductor will be created by connecting the new cluster
with existing manufacturing complexes (Giheung, Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek, Icheon, etc.),
materials-parts-equipment companies located nearby, and the fabless valley (Pangyo).
- The mega cluster will be a ‘leading model of global semiconductor cluster’ that boasts of a huge pool of domestic and foreign talent and the overall value chain, ranging from memory chips, foundries, design houses, fabless, to materials, parts and equipment.
- Businesses, research labs, and universities in the cluster will make a huge commitment to strengthening the competitiveness edge of the domestic semiconductor ecosystem by engaging in co-development of technologies, demonstration projects as well as supporting the fabrication of homegrown semiconductors.
- To this end, a goal of fostering 10 fabless companies, with sales worth KRW 1 trillion respectively, was put forward. This goal will be met by expanding production capacity of legacy chips, that are used for automotive and home appliances, and 4-nm AI chips, and giving significant support to excellent fabless companies to help their prototype development and mass production.
- In addition, large-scale of technology development projects worth KRW 3.2 trillion will be carried out by 2030 in order to develop critical and promising technologies of next-generation semiconductors such as chips for electricity, automobiles, and AI. As regards advanced semiconductor packaging, which is getting important as an answer to the limit of ultra-fine semiconductor processes, KRW 24 trillion investment from the private sector in manufacturing and research and KRW 360 billion investment from the government in technology development will be made to enhance our competitiveness. The government and businesses will make concerted efforts to make big strides toward a logic-semiconductor powerhouse featuring the world’s largest cluster and a sound ecosystem as planned.