South Korea's science minister met with the heads of local semiconductor firms and experts... to discuss ways to improve South Korea's competitiveness in the non-memory chips sector.
Our Choi Si-young brings us the highlights.
In April, the South Korean government announced it would foster the non-memory chip industry as one of Korea's three sectors of "new economic growth," the other two being future cars and bio-health.
On Wednesday, the science minister talked with local firms face-to-face on why the government is so determined to nurture a "first mover" that can compete globally in the non-memory chip sector.
"Artificial intelligence isn't something we can choose to have in the future. It's with us as we speak, and we need to act quickly to embrace it. The advanced non-memory chip will help us do that."
Advanced non-memory chips work best with AI technology such as the Internet of Things to make communication between objects possible.
The science minister said South Korea should reduce its dependence on its world-leading memory chip sector... and sharpen its competitive edge in the NON-memory industry.
Some local firms said the government needs to support them in order to achieve such goals.
The government should help us do what we can do best now, rather than do something that's likely to take time such as localizing key technologies. That way, we grow stronger and contribute more to South Korea's increasing foothold in the global market.
South Korea is far behind the world leaders in non-memory chips like Intel, but experts say the government and local firms could quickly narrow that gap,... with the right strategy and funding.
Choi Si-young, Arirang News.
