The ruling People Power Party’s “Special Committee Designed to Ramp Up Competitiveness of Semiconductor Industry,” is headed by Rep. Yang Hyang-ja, an ex-Democratic Party member and now an independent.
The committee made its debut at an inaugural meeting of the National Assembly Parliamentarians’ Hall on June 28.
Rep. Yang has been engrossed in the parliamentary passage of a special act designed to nurture the semiconductor industry and manpower. She lamented the political arena’s low concern over the semiconductor industry.
“There are nothings as honest as semiconductors and wafers, and no politicians attempt to learn Samsung’s memory legend of ranking 1st for the past 30 years in the global battlefield,” Rep. Yang said.
Rep. Yang criticized the absence of a master plan to nurture future semiconductor manpower. She said, “Micron of the United States is chasing Samsung, but the latter could face a crisis due to a shortage of manpower.”
Rep. Yang advises that the Education Ministry should design a master plan to nurture manpower related to the semiconductor sector and establish a roadmap to execute it as soon as possible.
Taiwan’s TSMC’s success is owed by founder Morris Chang, who has foreseen the rise of the non-memory sector while working at a U.S. company.
As for Korea’s possible participation in the Chip 4 Alliance, the U.S.-led semiconductor supply chain, Rep. Yang said Korea should join the alliance, saying that if the United States imposes sanctions against China, it would serve as an opportunity.
However, she also said Korea should maintain a strategic partnership with China.
Rep. Yang said the semiconductor industry has a history of overcoming paradoxes.
The greater the density is, the smaller in size, the faster the speed and the cheaper the price, she noted.
She spoke of “unmatched technology,” keywords that Samsung Electronics has used since 2009.
“Samsung Electronics has maintained the No.1 position in the memory sector for a few decades on the back of its high-technology that cannot be imitated by others.
She warned that if technology, manpower and investment are ignored, Samsung Electronics could be caught up in the global semiconductor market,” she said.
Rep. Yang, chair of the People Power Party’s committee to boost competition in the semiconductor industry, proposed the so-called K-Chips Bill to counter the United States, Europe and Japan’s ambitions for the support of the semiconductor sector.
The proposal has come two months after the inauguration of the special committee.
The K-Chips Bill consist of a measure to revise the special act on the strengthening of the competitiveness of the national advanced strategic industries and a bill to amend the act on restricting tax exceptions.
Thirty lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties joined forces in signing the measures.
In her inaugural speech, Chair Yang said, “I want to make the keyword of the special committee, being inaugurated today, “transcending.” “This place is a bipartisan one, regardless companies and generations,” she said.
Upon President Yoon Suk-yeol’s inauguration, she expressed her keen concern over the development of the semiconductor industry and manpower.
The ruling party’s special committee is headed by an opposition figure for the first time in Korean political history.
Chair Yang said she felt emotional that the importance and urgency of the semiconductor sector is a consensus of the times, and great changes were the works of her seven-year efforts.
Chair Yang said the modern semiconductor sector is a key part of the country’s economy, diplomacy and security, and it accounts for about 6 percent of Korea’s GDP and 20 percent of the nation’s exports.
The semiconductor sector has emerged as the most effective diplomatic means of managing the U.S.-Chinese hegemony, and has changed into a core part of Korea-U.S. security alliance, dubbed the “Semiconductor Shield.”
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