Government to Train 2,365 Advanced Semiconductor Professionals with Samsung and Hynix

Public-Private Investment of 222.8 Billion KRW for Advanced Semiconductor Talent Development
Agreement Ceremony Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] The government will jointly invest 111.4 billion KRW each with the semiconductor industry, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, to train 2,365 highly skilled personnel.

On the 23rd, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that it held a signing ceremony for the public-private joint investment in the ‘Public-Private Joint Investment Semiconductor Advanced Talent Training Project (hereinafter referred to as the Public-Private Joint R&D Project)’ for training semiconductor master's and doctoral level advanced personnel. At the event, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, representing the industry, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and agreed to invest a total project cost of 222.8 billion KRW together with the government.

The government and industry will invest the total project cost of 222.8 billion KRW equally over the period from 2023 to 2032 to comprehensively support securing core technologies across all semiconductor fields required by the industry and training practical advanced personnel. Additionally, the industry promised to actively cooperate from discovering tasks for securing advanced semiconductor technologies and training excellent personnel to supporting university-industry research and development (R&D) through technical mentoring by corporate engineers.

To this end, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix actively participated in discovering tasks for developing advanced semiconductor technologies and resolving technical difficulties during the planning of the public-private joint R&D projects this year. Through this, the government will promote 47 R&D projects this year.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has been preparing the public-private joint R&D project for training semiconductor master's and doctoral advanced personnel together with the industry and specialized institutions as a follow-up measure to the ‘Semiconductor Superpower Achievement Strategy’ announced in July last year. This project refers to a program where master's and doctoral personnel perform industry-demanded R&D tasks and are trained as advanced personnel possessing the professional capabilities required by companies. Through R&D tasks directly discovered and proposed by companies, companies secure core source technologies by utilizing university personnel, and universities train specialized personnel with practical experience through performing corporate R&D tasks. The goal is to produce more than 2,365 practical master's and doctoral advanced personnel over the next 10 years.

Lee Yong-pil, Director of Advanced Industry Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, “The signing ceremony for public-private joint investment is an important first step where the private sector and government work as one team to solve two key challenges: securing technological competitiveness in the semiconductor industry, which is the core of industrial technology hegemony, and training excellent personnel. The government will continue to cooperate with the private sector to foster a virtuous ecosystem for the semiconductor industry.”