[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] "The 'crisis' caused by Japan's export restrictions and the recent global supply chain restructuring due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is becoming an 'opportunity' for the convergence of capabilities across industry, academia, research, and government."
On the afternoon of the 11th, Choi Ki-young, Minister of Science and ICT, visited the site of the semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment localization support testbed, which is being established for the first time in Korea at the Nano Convergence Technology Institute, and made this statement.
The so-called core project to support technological independence in materials, parts, and equipment, the "Semiconductor Materials, Parts, and Equipment Testbed Construction Project," is being smoothly promoted by reducing budget and time through the introduction of idle equipment from large corporations. The testbed is designed to create an environment similar to large-scale production facilities of major companies to support experiments and performance evaluations for materials, parts, and equipment of small and medium-sized enterprises. Following the arrival of two pieces of equipment, ArF Immersion lithography and Track, in July, the remaining eight units are scheduled to be delivered within this year. The dedicated cleanroom for the testbed was also completed in June.
The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to complete all equipment installations by the end of this year and simultaneously provide pilot services, aiming to enhance the qualitative level of services through process advancement. The total budget input until 2022 is approximately 45 billion KRW.
At the site, Minister Choi urged, "Please strive to make the Nano Convergence Technology Institute's testbed not only provide high-quality services that meet field demands but also serve as a platform for active linkage and cooperation between materials and parts suppliers and final demand companies."
After the site inspection, a meeting was held with related small and medium-sized enterprises as well as key stakeholders in the semiconductor field, including the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, Samsung, SK Hynix, and ASML Korea. During the meeting, corporate suggestions for the development of the testbed and win-win cooperation plans were discussed.
Additionally, success stories of companies that recently achieved technological development and commercialization using the Nano Convergence Technology Institute's fab facilities were introduced. These include Truewin's infrared thermal imaging sensor and TNS's COVID-19 diagnostic kit.
The Nano Convergence Technology Institute plans to strengthen cooperation with the Semiconductor Industry Association to link the basic and applied stage performance evaluation results of the testbed to the mass production evaluation of demand companies, while promoting overall service innovation through expanding open equipment, usage hours, and workforce.
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