On May 23, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok held a joint briefing at the Government Complex-Seoul with Minister of Science and ICT, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Minister of Environment, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Chairman of the Financial Services Commission. The briefing covered the outcomes of the 2nd Economic Issue Review Meeting and the “Semiconductor Ecosystem Support Package”.
The following are key messages of DPM Choi’s remarks.
At today’s 2nd Economic Issue Review Meeting, participants collectively recognized the need for the government and related agencies to take a more proactive action to establish Korea’s semiconductor supremacy amid the intensified battle in the global semiconductor industry.
In the same vein, the government has decided to implement an additional semiconductor support package worth 26 trillion won. This package will cover the entire semiconductor ecosystem, ranging from manufacturing facilities, fabless and material·parts·equipment fields to human resources.
First of all, the government will swiftly launch an 18.1 trillion won semiconductor financial support program starting this year; a new 17 trillion won loan program will be established to provide semiconductor investment funds at preferential interest rates, while scaling up the current 300 billion won semiconductor ecosystem fund to 1.1 trillion won.
Second, infrastructure support for roads, water supply, and power will be bolstered for the rapid launch of the semiconductor mega-cluster; it will strive to halve the time required to commence construction of the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, as well as improve housing, culture, and transportation conditions for workers and local residents in the cluster.
In addition, the government will work to extend the applicable period for the national strategic technology tax credits and expand the scope of R&D tax credits to include expenses such as chip design software purchase costs. Not only that, it will widen the range of national strategic technology in the semiconductor sector to assure that essential technologies are not overlooked.
Last but not least, strengthened endeavors will be made to shore up investments in vulnerable spots of Korea’s semiconductor ecosystem, particularly in R&D and human resources; investment volume for those areas will be increased to more than 5 trillion won over the next three years, up from the current 3 trillion won level invested in the past three years.
Furthermore, the government plans to promptly finalize the preliminary feasibility studies for R&D projects related to advanced packaging, mini-fabs, ect. and incorporate them into the 2025 budget proposal based on the outcomes. Also, it will commit to intensively fostering professionals that can meet the demand of the industry sites by stepping up semiconductor specialized undergraduate and graduate programs.
Please refer to the attached files.
