Will increase support for chip development
The chip is currently Korea's largest export product, and China is the world's largest chip market. As the latter plans to invest heavily to stimulate the development of its industry, the industry's concerns about the prospects of the Korean chip industry are beginning to heat up.
'The government is considering supporting large projects for the design and production of next-generation memory chips, and plans to conduct preliminary feasibility studies in the second half of this year,' said South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Paik Un-gyu during the Korean National Congress meeting. The scale of support funds was not disclosed.
South Korean technology giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have developed a number of world-class products in the global memory chip market in recent years. However, experts have called for the Korean government to increase its focus on the industry in response to growing Chinese rivals. The challenge of growth.
Korean local chip makers worry that the Chinese government's move may narrow the technology gap with South Korea faster than expected. By then, if the production is not carefully controlled, it will lead to a global chip price crash.
'China is stepping up its own semiconductor industry and narrowing the gap with South Korea, which may also lead to global oversupply,' Paik Un-gyu said. 'The growth rate of memory chip prices has slowed recently, which is worrying that the super cycle is positive. Close to the summit. '
The latest move comes at a time when Chinese antitrust agencies are investigating Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron Technology. The three companies collectively control more than 90% of the global DRAM memory market.
In addition to chip design, the Korean government also plans to support the development of chip manufacturing.
South Korea’s over-reliance on storage also has a crisis
In the past two years, DRAM prices have been leaping forward, setting the biggest increase in the past 30 years. In this wave of price increases, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron have earned a lot of money.
Although South Korea's semiconductors have become the biggest beneficiary of the memory price surge, its semiconductor prospects seem to be 'bright', but experts' concerns about its excessive dependence on the storage industry are constantly 'upgrading', arguing that the pattern may bring a Economic crisis. Samsung, SK hynix also realized the reality of storage 'good long-term', and is making full use of the industry dividend brought by the storage industry to expand its non-storage business. Samsung is vigorously developing its foundry business with the goal of achieving sales. The number has doubled to $10 billion. It is reported that the department is working with Arm to develop MRAM, and at the same time strengthen cooperation with Mentor in 7nm and 8nm LPP foundry solutions. In addition, Samsung is also strengthening with Qualcomm in 7nm wafer generation. Cooperation in the field of work.
At the same time, Samsung is constantly exploring new opportunities in the semiconductor industry, such as cooperation with mobile terminal developers, self-developing GPU chips, layout autopilot, and cooperation with autonomous vehicle developers.
Similarly, SK hynix has expanded its non-storage business by establishing joint ventures with Chinese companies.