TSMC dominance leads South Korea to consider its own semiconductor biz with KSMC

TSMC is the king of the technology industry, controlling a dominant 90% of the world's advanced semiconductor manufacturing... and it's leaving South Korea shaking in its semiconductor boots.

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In the rise of AI, South Korea's Samsung has been continuously falling behind -- especially with fellow South Korean memory rival SK hynix -- and that Korean media are now pointing out the fact that the South Korean government is well aware of the problem, and has plans to kick start a Korean Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or KSMC.

KSMC would have the aim of following TMSC's successful model and would support the development of the local semiconductor industry, with experts saying that KSMC would face obvious challenges including the large technological gap with its competitors, and the lack of an industrial supply chain.

If KSMC can be successfully established, investment in the South Korean semiconductor industry would reach $13.9 billion by 20245, with huge economic benefits to the country of over $208 billion. But, there are a number of hurdles for KSMC with the technological gap with overseas competitors (TSMC), weakening domestic investment competitiveness, lack of IC design, packaging, and testing factories, and the bleeding out of local semiconductor talent.

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Lee Hyuk-jae is a professor at Seoul National University, and said that if the warning signs aren't addressed, the Korean semiconductor industry might face a recession in the global technology competition, and cause untold financial losses in the future.

The professor also said that South Korea should review the current 52-hour working week system, advising that companies should be more flexible, and follow in the footsteps of TSMC engineers who can extend their working hours to handle the rapid development schedule.