Korea Tackles Weak Link in Semiconductors... Notable Moves by Samsung and Hynix Alumni

Active Entrepreneurship in System Sector by Samsung Alumni
Attempting IP Business Rarely Seen Domestically

Three Young Talents United at Hynix
Supporting Startups Leads to Birth of SoBuJang Companies

South Korea is a powerhouse in the memory semiconductor market, holding a 70% market share (based on DRAM). In contrast, its share in the system semiconductor sector is only 3%. The country also has weak global competitiveness in the semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment (SoBuJang) sector. In this situation, former Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix employees are actively pursuing business ventures in these areas through startups.

Former Samsung Electronics employees are mainly leveraging their experience in system semiconductors to pioneer the market. Unlike memory semiconductors, which require large-scale investments, the system semiconductor field is considered to hinge on differentiated technology and securing top talent as the key to success. The increasing variety of system semiconductor types has also expanded market participation opportunities.

Open Edge Technologies was founded in 2017 by CEO Lee Sung-hyun, a former Samsung Electronics employee. The company provides design assets (IP) necessary for semiconductor design. Born in 1976, Lee worked for a total of 18 years at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (now SAIT) and Samsung Electronics’ system semiconductor division, the System LSI Business Unit.

While developing Samsung Electronics’ mobile application processor (AP) Exynos series in the System LSI Business Unit, he realized the importance of IP. After leaving the company in 2015 and preparing for two years, he established one of the leading IP companies in Korea. Thanks to continuous technology development, the company now counts Samsung Electronics as a partner in the foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) sector. It also supplies IP to various domestic and international clients such as Micron in the U.S. and LX Semicon, expanding its business scale.

Another fabless (semiconductor design) startup that received investment from Hyundai Motor Group shortly after its establishment is also connected to former Samsung Electronics employees. Park Jae-hong, CEO of Boss Semiconductor, born in 1965, worked at Motorola and IBM before joining Samsung Electronics in 1999. He served as vice president of the System LSI Business Unit and the Foundry Business Unit during his 23 years at Samsung.

Leveraging his extensive experience, he entered the emerging automotive semiconductor market. Currently, based on mobile and automotive system-on-chip (SoC) design capabilities, he is focusing on developing system semiconductors for future vehicles. In June, the company secured a follow-up investment of 2 billion KRW from Hyundai Motor and Kia, establishing a cooperative system for customized semiconductor development.

At SK Hynix, three former team members joined forces to establish a fabless startup. MetisX was founded by CEO Kim Jin-young, CTO Kim Do-hoon, and CPO Kim Joo-hyun, with Kim CEO and Kim CTO born in 1980 and Kim CPO in 1981, making them relatively young talents. Notably, Kim CEO became the youngest executive at SK Hynix at age 41, holding the title of vice president.

They met while working on the same team at SK Hynix, designing next-generation solid-state drive (SSD) controller architecture, and nurtured their entrepreneurial dreams. After founding the company last year, they are developing smart memory solutions based on Compute Express Link (CXL), a next-generation connectivity standard. They also plan to develop custom semiconductor chips in the future. To this end, they raised 8.5 billion KRW in seed funding earlier this year.

The number of SoBuJang companies founded by SK Hynix alumni is also increasing, thanks to the company’s internal venture nurturing program, Hi-Garage. Since its launch in 2018, a total of 28 semiconductor SoBuJang startups have been founded through Hi-Garage, with about 79% (22 teams) continuing their businesses to date.

Oldowan, established in 2020 through Hi-Garage, was founded by CEO Shim Jae-hee, born in 1975, who worked for 20 years at SK Hynix researching semiconductor photolithography processes (the process of drawing circuits on semiconductor wafers). The company is currently developing planarization process materials. Another 1975-born SK Hynix photolithography materials expert, CEO Lee Sung-jae, founded MHD with the goal of introducing advanced materials.

An SK Hynix official explained, "Since they work internally, they know well what is needed or what should be improved, so many start businesses directly in the SoBuJang sector. From SK Hynix’s perspective, when domestic companies achieve localization and diversification, it leads to cost reduction and better quality, so the benefits are significant."