SEOUL, May 23 (Reuters) – South Korea announced on Thursday a 26 trillion won ($19 billion) support package for its chip businesses, citing a need to keep up in areas like chip design and contract manufacturing amid ‘all-out warfare’ in the global semiconductor market.
Under the package, President Yoon Suk Yeol said a financial support programme worth about 17 trillion won was planned through state-run Korea Development Bank to back investments by semiconductor companies, according to the presidential office.
“As we all know, semiconductors are a field where all-out national warfare is underway. Win or lose, that depends on who can make cutting-edge semiconductors first,” Yoon said at a meeting with top government officials.
South Korea, home to the world’s top memory chip makers Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), opens new tab and SK Hynix (000660.KS), opens new tab, has fallen behind some rivals in areas such as chip design and contract chip manufacturing.
Source: REUTER
