Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Deputy Minister for Trade Yang Byeong-nae held talks with John Neuffer, President and CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), on March 5 on the occasion of the latter’s visit to Korea.

 

As the representative and voice of the U.S.’ semiconductor industry, SIA has been engaging in public-private cooperation in semiconductor industry sectors with MOTIE through both bilateral and multilateral consultation channels like the Government/Authorities Meeting on Semiconductors (GAMS) and the Korea-U.S. Supply Chain and Commercial Dialogue (SCCD). Samsung, SK Hynix and a number of Korean companies are members of SIA.

 

Deputy Trade Minister Yang and President Neuffer discussed measures for advancing trade cooperation in semiconductors and supply chains between Korea and the U.S., as well as major policies like the U.S.’ CHIPS Act. The deputy trade chief assessed that the two countries have been closely cooperating in the semiconductor area through the Korea-U.S. summit and the trilateral Korea-U.S.-Japan summit held last year, on which they also discussed measures for expanding public-private joint cooperation on the sidelines of the first trilateral Korea-U.S.-Japan industry ministers’ meeting slated for this year.

 

Amid the positive prospects for AI chips and the overall semiconductor in 2024, Deputy Trade Minister Yang proposed that the two countries enhance their semiconductor industries’ global competitiveness by stepping up public-private cooperation to effectively respond to trade environment uncertainties, especially in view of the record number of elections to be held around the world this year.