In the past few days, South Korea's ** Yoon Suk-yeol went to the Netherlands for a visit. It was previously reported that Yoon Suk-yeol's trip may mean that South Korea and the Netherlands will make greater moves in the field of semiconductors. The latest news shows that this big move has really happened. South Korea and the Netherlands have announced an alliance and are ready to spend $1 trillion to plan for the future.
South Korea's Yoon Suk-yeol and Dutch Prime Minister Rutte issued a joint statement
According to a number of ** confirmations, the news was announced during a joint statement issued by Yoon Suk-yeol and Dutch Prime Minister Rutte. The two leaders announced that South Korea and the Netherlands have formally formed a "semiconductor alliance" and established a bilateral coordination mechanism to be responsible for the economy, security and industry. In addition, the joint statement between South Korea and the Netherlands contains a total of 20 items. Yonhap News Agency said that through this initiative, the two countries will work together to narrow the technology gap to jointly respond to the ** chain crisis. This was also confirmed by Kim Tae-hyo, the first director of South Korea's National Security Office, who claimed that the alliance that the two countries will build will provide an immediate and efficient solution in the event of a chain crisis.
In fact, long before Yoon Suk-yeol set off, the South Korean side released some subtle signals, allowing the outside world to speculate that the trip might have a relatively big move. Yoon Suk-yeol claimed at the time that economy and security were synonymous, and that he and the Dutch side should not only discuss the issue of the global ** chain of semiconductors, but also build a systemic institutional framework. In addition, Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, also accompanied Yoon Suk-yeol on his visit to the Netherlands.
During their visit to the Netherlands, Lee Jae-yong and Chey Tae-won both appeared at the headquarters of the Dutch semiconductor giant ASML, and the two also toured related facilities. ASML and Samsung also announced that they will invest 1 trillion won (about 5.5 billion yuan) to build a semiconductor R&D center in South Korea. According to South Korea's Mainichi Shimbun, this will be the first time ASML has established an overseas R&D center. South Korean media also said that ASML currently monopolizes the EUV extreme ultraviolet lithography machine necessary for the production of semiconductors**, so it has a pivotal position in the global semiconductor industry.
South Korea visited Dutch semiconductor giant ASML
In addition to setting up R&D centers, South Korea and the Netherlands plan to strengthen their semiconductor alliance in other ways. It is reported that the two countries will jointly train a large number of semiconductor talents in the next five years starting next year. According to South Korea's **, the semiconductor industry in South Korea is currently facing the problem of talent shortage, and data from the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association shows that in 2021, South Korea's semiconductor manpower will be more than 170,000 people. South Korea hopes to increase its semiconductor workforce to more than 300,000 by 2031.
As for why South Korea and the Netherlands formed a semiconductor alliance, there is a view that one of the main reasons may be to counter TSMC. TSMC recently claimed that it may complete the mass production of 2-nanometer chips in 2025. Some industry insiders believe that TSMC's statement has brought a lot of pressure to Samsung, because 2nm chips represent the next generation of semiconductors. South Korea** believes that ASML's latest production equipment is indispensable if it wants to get ahead of the next generation of semiconductor competition, which will also be key to the future of Samsung and TSMC.
Some industry insiders pointed out that the current competitive situation between Samsung and TSMC is delicate. On the one hand, Samsung has begun mass production of 3nm chips, which has also been recognized by customers, but there are still certain deficiencies in the yield rate. On the other hand, TSMC has an advantage in 2nm semiconductors, but Samsung is not without a chance to catch up.
South Korean semiconductor companies may want to further confront TSMC
In addition, from the current point of view, the life of several South Korean semiconductor giants has not been easy recently. Some Korean media believe that Samsung and SK hynix's business performance this year may reach the worst in 15 years. Moreover, the United States' interference in the global semiconductor chain is also a serious problem faced by relevant South Korean companies. It is mentioned that a large part of the production capacity of Samsung and SK hynix is in China, and the United States restricts the delivery of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, which will also affect the chip production of these Korean companies.
Some data show that the US approach has actually caused South Korea to suffer heavy losses. Some senior executives of South Korean semiconductor companies have complained that South Korean semiconductor equipment, raw materials and parts companies have all been affected by the United States. In the first 10 months of this year, South Korea exported only about $700 million worth of semiconductor equipment to China, a figure nearly 39 percent less than in the same period last year. Last year, more than half of South Korea's semiconductor equipment was exported to China.
In addition to the above reasons, some scholars believe that Yoon Suk-yeol's active promotion of the semiconductor alliance between South Korea and the Netherlands is also for his own political demands. Yoon Suk-yeol**'s foreign policy is pro-Western, and further strengthening cooperation with Western countries can also strengthen his political position at home.