Korean media used Taiwan as a reference to highlight the industrial advantages of TSMC as the core and the Industrial Research Institute assisting small and medium-sized enterprises in research and development verification.
[Financial Channel/Comprehensive Report] The AI craze has boosted Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. South Korean technology giants have launched three major super investment plans in semiconductors, AI data centers and physical AI, with a total scale of approximately 1,500 trillion won (approximately NT$36 trillion). However, if huge amounts of money are invested, local small and medium-sized enterprises may not reap the dividends. Korean media pointed out the pain points of South Korea's semiconductor ecosystem and used Taiwan as a reference to highlight the semiconductor ecosystem built with TSMC as the core and the industrial advantages of the Industrial Research Institute in assisting small and medium-sized enterprises in research and development verification.
South Korea's "Seoul Economy" reported on the 10th that benefiting from the boom in AI chips, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's profits have increased significantly. Large South Korean companies have also successively announced unprecedented investment blueprints. Among them, semiconductors, AI data centers and physical AI are three major super projects, with a total investment scale of approximately 1,500 trillion won.
The report said that the scale of investment of 1,500 trillion won seems staggering. The real question is whether this huge investment can penetrate downwards and benefit South Korea's local new startups and small and medium-sized enterprises. Some core equipment and process orders still go to foreign companies, while many Korean small and medium-sized enterprises with technology are stuck in the funding, testing and mass production verification stages, making it difficult to break into the supply chain of large enterprises.
Take the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, which has an investment of approximately 360 trillion won (approximately NT$8.6 trillion), as an example. The world's four largest semiconductor equipment manufacturers ASML, Applied Materials, Colin R&D and Tokyo Power Technology have all settled in the complex. The industry expects that these foreign giants will obtain the majority of production equipment orders.
The CEO of a South Korean semiconductor equipment company admitted that even if local companies successfully enter the supply chain, they often can only become second- or third-tier suppliers. Once an equipment error occurs in a large chip factory, it may cause huge production losses, so it is not easy for new suppliers to gain trust.
The report specifically used Taiwan as a comparison, pointing out that Taiwan has established an industrial ecosystem with TSMC as the core, and the Industrial Research Institute serves as a testing base, with about 6,500 researchers and a budget of more than 1 trillion won (approximately NT$24 billion), assisting local startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in R&D, testing, design verification, process development and prototype production.
ITRI also licenses a number of IPs to Taiwanese IC design companies to reduce initial investment costs and risks. Lin Zhengxu (transliteration), co-executive director of the Korea Entrepreneurship Alliance, called on South Korea to establish a more complete policy and financing mechanism to prevent potential companies from withering due to lack of funds during the long testing and verification process.
