South Korea has lagged behind its “basic capabilities” in five areas of semiconductor technology, including memory chips and artificial intelligence (AI) chips, according to a report released last week by the Korea Science and Technology Assessment and Plans. Masu.
A think tank report based on a 2024 survey of 39 Korean experts in the semiconductor sector shows that China is catching up to global leaders despite US restrictions on access to advanced chips and chip-making technologies in the US It’s the latest indication of that.
In particular, China ranks second beyond Korea for memory chip technology, a region where Asian countries have long been beneficial through major memory chip manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. China is currently only behind the US in this field.
This contrasts with previous reports by the same institute in 2022, with South Korea ranked second in both memory and advanced packaging technology. China ranked third and fourth in two areas, respectively.
“Even in the memory market where South Korea had maintained unparalleled status, Chinese semiconductor companies are increasing market share,” adding that China is increasing the volume of legacy chips “with little technology gap.” I did.
China also narrowed the gap with Korea with its advanced chip packaging technology, achieving the same score of 74.2 in its basic capabilities, after the US, Japan and Taiwan.
In the field of high performance and low power artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors, China is second only to the US, which has maintained its advantages over Korea since 2022.
