The country’s authorities announce that they want to build “the largest semiconductor center in the world”. This project is financed by a private investment of 230 billion dollars, mainly from Samsung Electronics, the country’s conglomerate.
Samsung said in a statement that it plans to invest in this project over the next two decades, according to AFP. And South Korea’s industry ministry said the project is expected to be completed by 2042.
This actor is already a leader in the world of chips and processors. The vast majority of chips of the latest technology generations are produced by two companies: Samsung and the Taiwanese company TSMC.
Securing the supply of semiconductors affects Southeast Asian countries as well as the United States and Europe
In May 2022, Samsung announced a massive capital investment plan over the next five years to become a leader in key industries ranging from semiconductors to biologics. The company will spend just under 15 billion euros by 2028 to build a new research complex in South Korea.
In June 2022, Samsung announced the launch of mass production of chips using its latest 3nm process node. The global chip shortage of the past two years has been a boon for Samsung’s chip division as customers have stockpiled. It also allowed the South Korean tech giant and other contract chipmakers to raise service prices due to increased demand.
The question of securing the supply of semiconductors affects the countries of Southeast Asia as well as the United States and Europe.
Against the US Chips and Science Act, and against China
China is one of the players in this competition. In August 2022, she called anti-competitive a US semiconductor bill, the US Chips and Science Act, which aims to boost the US semiconductor industry. The text provides $ 52.7 billion in grants and funds to strengthen the country’s footprint in emerging sectors, including nanotechnology, quantum computing and artificial intelligence (AI).
“America invented the semiconductor, but today it produces about 10% of the world’s supply and none of the most advanced chips. Instead, we depend on East Asia for 75% of global production,” the White House noted at the time.
The United States also recently put pressure on the Netherlands to force ASML, a Dutch specialist in the manufacture of processors, to limit its exports to China.