Samsung veteran: boosting South Korean chip industry is a matter of national security
- Yang Hyang-ja, a South Korean lawmaker who spent three decades at Samsung Electronics, is leading a nationwide effort to fund the domestic chip industry
- South Korea has been caught between a global semiconductor war between China and the US, with both sides urging Seoul to join their side
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“We’re in a chip war,” Yang said in a December interview. “Technology supremacy is a way that our country can take the lead in any security-related agenda, such as diplomatic and defence issues, without being swayed by other nations.”
Yang, who leads a 13-member special committee President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ruling party formed this year to brainstorm a solution, has argued that only through strong and direct intervention can Seoul expand its position in the US$550 billion global semiconductor industry. She is one of a growing number of global policymakers who have embraced tech protectionism after pandemic-driven logistics snarls highlighted countries’ dependence on one another for key electronic components. She has won an ally in Yoon, who has joined Yang’s calls for more policies to help the country’s home-grown chip sector, which includes SK Hynix as well as Samsung.
Her efforts may be starting to bear fruit. Last month, parliament passed Korea’s version of the US Chips Act. Spearheaded by Yang, the move expedites the approval process to build factories in the metropolitan area, while increasing the number of tech-specialised schools. Separately, parliament passed an initial bill offering a tax credit of 8 per cent to big firms investing in semiconductor manufacturing, far smaller than Yang’s proposal of 20 per cent to 25 per cent.