A ceremony to celebrate the 17th anniversary of Semiconductor Day took place at Grand InterContinental Hotel Seoul Parnas in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Nov. 22, amid expectations that the nation will renew its best-ever semiconductor exports this year.
The event reminded of the significance of the semiconductor industry, which serves as pivotal roles in the development of AI technologies. Semiconductor Day has been observed annually since Oct. 29, 2008, when the nation achieved $10 billion in semiconductor exports.
The nation logged $102.4 billion in semiconductor exports for the first nine month of the year, and accumulative exports for the whole of the year have already surpassed $98.6 billion the nation achieved last year, and they are most likely to renew the best-ever achievement made in 2022 — $129.2 billion.
The semiconductor has served as the nation’s No. 1 export item as semiconductor exports accounted for 20 percent of the nation’s total exports in the January-September period.
Among some 550 people on hand at the anniversary event were Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Duk-geun, Chairman Kwak Noh-jung of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA), concurrently president of SK Hynix, and President Park Yong-in of Samsung Electronics, and Rep. Koh Dong-jin of the ruling People Power Party, who spearheaded a proposal to enact the special act on semiconductor.
Chairman Kwak Noh-jung of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA), concurrently president of SK Hynix, gives a welcoming speech at the Semiconductor Day anniversary event. (Photos: MOTIE, KSIA)
In his welcoming speech, KSIA Chmn. Kwak said, “Our semiconductor technology, the same as AI, is an essential element of both national security and economic growth, and the hegemony over the semiconductor sector is a war without gunfire for survival among nations, not only an issue of economic development, and much support from every field, including the government, is badly needed to secure the nation’s semiconductor technology sovereignty amid a fierce competition and spearhead into the future semiconductor industry.”
Citing steps to support the semiconductor industry, such as fiscal support, infrastructure support and R&D support, Chmn. Kwak called for fast legislation and enactment of the special act on semiconductors.
The Order of Industrial Merit Service, Gold Tower, went to Chairman Park Kyung-soo of PSK Group.
Senior Executive Vice President Choi Joon-ki of SK Hynix and President Chung Kyu-dong of Gaonchips each were presented with the Order of Industrial Merit Service, Silver and Bronze towers. Seventy-nine others were also honored with diverse prizes in recognition of their achievements.
In his commemorative speech, MOTIE Minister Ahn said, “Korea is forecast to see semiconductor exports top $135 billion, the best-ever performance.” Minister Ahn urged the participants to secure the hegemony over the high bandwidth memory, which is getting more important in time of the emergence of the AI era, saying that Korea has a strong competitive edge over the memory semiconductor.
Minister Ahn said, “Now is the time to pitch up efforts to narrow the competitiveness gap in the system semiconductor sector, which accounts for 70 percent of the global semiconductor market.”
“The government will build the world’s best investment environment so that the nation is not left behind by its competition countries, and we will make our utmost to spur the development of the system semiconductor by coming up with comprehensive steps to support the system industry soon,” Minister Ahn said.
SEDEX 2024 Attracts Latest Technologies and Trends
The Korea Semiconductor Industry Association hosted the Semiconductor Exhibition 2024 (SEDEX 2024) at the C&D1 Hall of COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, from Oct. 23 to Oct. 25.
SEDEX 2024, the 26th rendition of the fair, was held under the theme “Convergence of AI Semiconductors and State-of-the-art Package Technologies.”
The exhibition brought together 280 companies, ranging from chip producers to design, materials, parts and equipment makers.
The exhibitors set up 700 booths to showcase their latest products and advanced technologies.
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