Next-Generation Semiconductor
Forum Scheduled
- Goal is to develop common ground to exchange technology

Representatives from relevant government ministries, business community and research institutions got together to share information on the development of the next-generation semiconductor sector the Korean government wants to nurture as one of the growth engine industries in the years to come.
A forum on the development of next-generation semiconductor sector was held for the first time this year at the Renaissance Hotel in Samsung-dong, southeastern Seoul on March 15 under the sponsorship of the Next-Generation Semiconductor Growth Engine Business Corps.
The forum was designed to develop a common ground for exchanging technology as the Semiconductor Growth Engine Business Corps was inaugurated in April last year along seven other new project tasks, including one on the development of system IC for smart cards.
Among the 500 participants at the forum were Cho Jung-hwi, president of the Next-Generation Semiconductor Growth Engine Business Corps, Dr. Yoo Hoe-jun, project manager with the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), and Kim Hyung-jun, chief of the System IC 2010 Business Corps.
The significance of the forum was that renowned experts, irrespective of their interests from each government ministry, got together in one place to push ahead with technology exchanges and promote collaborative ties among them for the successful implementation of next-generation growth engine development projects.
The participants presented diverse collaboration methods, including win-win strategies through technology exchanges on tasks being pushed by the Next-Generation Semiconductor Growth Engine Business Corps. They also shared the view that they need to enhance efficiency by sharing information on implementation strategies during each phase, while bringing about synergetic effects and a global competitive edge with the goal of raising the national per capita income to $20,000.
The forum provide supervisors responsible for the growth engine projects with an opportunity to announce the major achievements of ongoing tasks and review strategies for the development of next-generation semiconductor products. The participants demonstrated their interest in ways to nurture such areas as memory, system semiconductors, manufacturing, equipment, and materials, and had panel discussions on future technology cooperation and ways to capitalize on technologies.
The next-generation semiconductor forum will be held every quarter. In the first half of this year, a consultative body for the development of the semiconductor section will be formed with experts from relevant businesses and research institutes participating. A more comprehensive forum will be pushed ahead to cover infrastructure creation and manpower development through a technology roadmap, which is now under consideration, with the goal of developing the forum into a comprehensive think tank designed to explore mid- and long-term solutions related to commerce, intellectual properties, standardization and environment and technology development.
In the meantime, the tentatively-named Fabless and Foundry Industry Development Consultative Association will be inaugurated next month. The forthcoming association is expected to spur the development of the system semiconductor industry by improving foundry and packaging conditions so as to meet the demands of domestic fatless businesses.
The Next-Generation Semiconductor Growth Engine Business Corps on Apr. 3 announced the inauguration of the Fabless and Foundry Industry Development Consultative Association with foundry, fatless designing, packaging and testing business sectors participating, aiming to take into account foundry, packaging and testing even in the course of designing such semiconductor products as System-in-Package (SiP), System-on-Package (SoP), whose function and competency are getting more complicated.
The proposed association will focus on the analysis of foundry demands of the designing industry, foundry supply, simultaneous cooperation in all sectors ranging from design to foundry, packaging and testing, and jointly upgrading production infrastructure.
It will help establish an infrastructure for developing integrated system semiconductors in connection with a system semiconductor certification support center, information provider development projects associated with System IC 2010 Project and sample product manufacturing being supported by the central government.
Cho Jung-hwi, president of the Next-Generation Semiconductor Growth Engine Business Corps, said, "the association is designed to build up a cooperative framework for securing capacity to domestic fabless companies, which in return turn to domestic manufacturing, thus leading to accumulation of know-how for the domestic foundry community".
CEO-level representatives of the Next-Generation Semiconductor Growth Engine Business Corps and relevant businesses will get together soon to decide how to operate and establish guidelines for the proposed association. nw