Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Vice Minister attends SEMICON Korea 2024 Industry Leadership Dinner

Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Kang Kyungsung attended the SEMICON Korea 2024 Industry Leadership Dinner on January 31 at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas and held talks with Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) Chairman Ajit Manocha to discuss cooperation with Korean and overseas semiconductor companies.   During his Industry Leadership Dinner congratulatory message and talks with Chairman Manocha, Vice Minister Kang stated that “this year, we are seeing the beginning of the end of the global chip industry’s downturn, with the global chip market projected to grow by over 14 percent year-on-year in 2024,” and highlighted that “the Korean Government is aiming to nurture a robust semiconductor ecosystem within the mega cluster that was announced on January 15 by establishing a cutting-edge testbed, providing 24 trillion won in policy funding over the next three years and stabilizing the supply chain via cooperation through the global chip solidarity.” date2024-02-02

Global semiconductor cooperation to continue strong in 2024

Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Kang Kyungsung attended the SEMICON Korea 2024 Industry Leadership Dinner on January 31 at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas and held talks with Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) Chairman Ajit Manocha to discuss cooperation with Korean and overseas semiconductor companies.   Annually hosted by SEMI, SEMICON Korea is Korea’s largest semiconductor material and equipment exhibition, and its Industry Leadership Dinner is an event that gathers around 400 chip industry leaders from around the world.   Throughout 2023, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) has been strengthening its cooperation network with countries taking up core roles in the global semiconductor value chain via summit diplomacy to build up a semiconductor alliance. The alliance is a major project under the semiconductor mega cluster plan announced on January 15, and MOTIE intends to continue utilizing the alliance in 2024 to bolster efforts to stabilize the global chip value chain.   During his Industry Leadership Dinner congratulatory message and talks with Chairman Manocha, Vice Minister Kang stated that “this year, we are seeing the beginning of the end of the global chip industry’s downturn, with the global chip market projected to grow by over 14 percent year-on-year in 2024,” and highlighted that “the Korean Government is aiming to nurture a robust semiconductor ecosystem within the mega cluster that was announced on January 15 by establishing a cutting-edge testbed, providing 24 trillion won in policy funding over the next three years and stabilizing the supply chain via cooperation through the global chip solidarity.”   Meanwhile, MOTIE’s Semiconductor Division Director Lee Kyu-bong met with the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology Director Rebecca Chapman on January 30 at the Government Complex Sejong to discuss measures for stronger cooperation based on the Korea-UK semiconductor cooperation framework, in tandem with the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology, Innovate UK and other related institutions. The two countries discussed mutually beneficial measures for cooperation in manpower training, technology development, supply chain and policies incorporating semiconductor industry trends. date2024-01-31

Korea's retail industry grows 6.3% in 2023

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on January 30 that Korea’s annual retail sales for 2023 advanced 6.3 percent year-on-year. All offline channels (up 3.7 percent), including hypermarkets, department stores, convenience stores and super supermarket (SSM) operators, showed growth in 2023. Online retail sales rose 9.0 percent amid widening age range of consumers. For the month of December, offline sales achieved a 4.5 percent growth year-on-year despite December 2 date2024-01-31

Minister Ahn chairs discussions on regulatory innovation for green mobility

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn announced eco-friendly mobility regulatory innovation measures on January 30 at LG Science Park together with other relevant ministries and held a meeting to discuss the automotive industry’s major issues and strategic export measures. The meeting was attended by representatives of the industry’s relevant companies and institutions, including Korea Association of Autonomous Mobility Industry (KAAMI), Hyundai Motor, GM Korea and Renault date2024-01-30

Korea aiming to enlarge future green mobility pie by removing "killer" regulations

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced the eco-friendly mobility regulatory innovation measures on January 30 at LG Science Park together with other relevant ministries and held a meeting to discuss the automotive industry’s major issues and strategic export measures. As technological breakthroughs like autonomous self-driving and AI, software and advanced automotive parts of future mobility are converging and the competition for global dominance is intensifying, the date2024-01-30

Minister Ahn chairs Industry and Energy R&D Innovation Roundtable

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn chaired the Industry and Energy R&D Innovation Roundtable on January 18 at Samsung Seoul R&D Campus to discuss ways to raise the Government's R&D investment efficiency and to gain powerful outcomes, where he announced measures for strategic investment and innovation in industry and energy R&D. Minister Dukgeun Ahn stated that “MOTIE plans to concentrate the Government’s industry and energy R&D capacity on devel date2024-01-19

MOTIE to push 4 major measures for industrial and energy R&D innovation

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn chaired the R&D Innovation Roundtable on January 18 at the Samsung Seoul R&D Campus and announced measures for innovation and strategic investment in industrial and energy R&D. After 20 separate meetings with approximately 500 researchers, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) has laid down four major measures for innovation. First, MOTIE will provide concentrated assistance for world-leading R&D projects that aim for date2024-01-19

Middle-market enterprises respond with positive economic forecast for Q1 2024

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on January 18 the results of the economic forecast survey on Korea's middle-market enterprises for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024. MOTIE conducts the survey on a quarterly basis on approximately 800 middle-market companies. The survey revealed that six major indices, namely overall economy (up 3.2 percentage points to 92.7), exports (up 3.5 percentage points to 97.6), domestic demand (up 0.2 percentage points to 90.5), operating profi date2024-01-18

Korea and France seek measures for cooperation in advanced technology areas

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Ministry of Economics and Finance of France held the 8th Korea-France New Industries Technology Cooperation Forum (“Forum”) on January 17 in Paris and agreed to expand the scope of bilateral cooperation in advanced technology areas. The Forum is in its eighth year since launched in 2014 with aim to share the two countries’ joint R&D outcomes, uncover industry-academia joint projects and sound out potential global pa date2024-01-17

Korea's ICT exports grow 8.1% in December

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on January 16 that Korea's exports and imports of information and communications technology (ICT) goods for December 2023 recorded USD 18.3 billion (up 8.1 percent year-on-year) and $10.9 billion (down 7.2 percent), respectively. The trade balance stood at a surplus of $7.3 billion. Semiconductor exports, driven by the steep climb of memory chips (up 57.5 percent to $7.0 billion), posted double-digit growth for the second consecutive date2024-01-17