Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

The Korean government announced plans to enhance support for the semiconductor ecosystem today during an interministerial meeting held for strengthening industrial competitiveness. 

First, the Government will work with the National Assembly to significantly reduce the burden on companies for semiconductor cluster infrastructure. The Government has promised to take on a significant share of the responsibility for KRW 1.8 trillion required to build underground power transmission cables for the Yongin and Pyeongtaek Semiconductor Clusters, while increasing the limit on infrastructure support for complexes specialized in national high-tech industries. It will also boost the operation of programs to attract overseas talents in high-tech sectors and scale up incentives for high-performing instructors at Korea’s four science and technology institutes and increase specialized graduate schools to train experts in various high-tech industries.

The Government will also increase tax benefits for investment in R&D facilities. It will work with the National Assembly to include R&D equipment and facilities in the scope of investment tax credit for national strategic technologies and increase the investment tax credit rate for semiconductor companies. 

In 2015, the Government will provide policy financing worth more than ₩14 trillion across all semiconductor sectors including MPE (materials, parts, equipment) and fabless manufacturing, marking the beginning of full-fledged investment in semiconductor funds. It will also launch a program through which the Korea Development Bank will provide low-interest loans totaling ₩4.25 trillion in 2025 at lowest-level interest rates. In the same year, a new semiconductor ecosystem fund worth ₩120 billion will be created, with plans to scale it up to ₩420 billion later on. 

Lastly, the Government will finalize the power and water supply plan for the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, under which relevant organizations will enter into an agreement. For the Yongin National Industrial Complex, the Government formulated a plan to supply power worth 3GW (starting in 2030, Phase 1) and divide the supply costs, and reached a provisional agreement on additional power supply (starting in 2039, Phase 2). For the Yongin General Industrial Complex, the Government followed up on the power supply agreement on 3GW in 2021 (starting in 2027) by reaching a final agreement on the supply of additional power (starting in 2039, Phase 2) and cost sharing.

Moving forward, the Government will continue to build the competitiveness of the country’s semiconductor industry by closely working with the National Assembly to enact the budget and law revisions for semiconductor industry support.