Polytechnic University-Fabless Association to Boost Korea's System Semiconductor Industry

Signing of MOU for Cooperation in the Fabless Industry Sector

Korea Polytechnic University and the Korea Fabless Industry Association have decided to develop new fabless (semiconductor design) technologies and nurture talent through joint research and industry-academia cooperation. They joined forces to expand the system semiconductor ecosystem, a key task in the domestic semiconductor industry.

Semiconductor process practice is being conducted at the Semiconductor Process Department of Korea Polytechnics Seongnam Campus. Provided by Korea Polytechnics

The Vocational Education Research Institute of Korea Polytechnic University signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the 5th at the conference room of Nextchip (a domestic fabless company) in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, to activate joint research in the semiconductor fabless industry and expand industry-academia cooperation.

Through this agreement, the two organizations will ▲exchange personnel and conduct joint research ▲address matters recognized as necessary for creating social value and mutual development ▲share the latest technology trends in the industry and collaborate on developing educational content ▲work on establishing industrial and educational policies based on their research achievements and field opinions.

In this process, they plan to expand education and research for training fabless technology personnel and cooperate to develop new technologies through joint research projects and apply these new technologies in the field. In particular, Polytechnic University will develop practical semiconductor education courses with the Fabless Association to cultivate hands-on talent.

Shim Heon, Acting Director of the Vocational Education Research Institute at Polytechnic University, said, "The activation of joint research and industry-academia cooperation between Polytechnic University and the Fabless Association is an important leap toward strengthening future semiconductor industry competitiveness and technological innovation," adding, "It will create great synergy for the development of new semiconductor technologies and the industry."

Semiconductors are divided into memory semiconductors (storage) and system semiconductors (computation and processing). The system semiconductor market size is more than three times that of the memory semiconductor market. Fabless companies design various system semiconductors, and since Korea's memory industry is mainly developed, enhancing domestic fabless competitiveness is considered a key challenge.