Semiconductor Showdown: China Eyes Korean Tech Experts Amidst Global Power Play

“I’ve been scouted by a Chinese semiconductor company before. They promised to provide the highest industry standard for living expenses and salary for my family. If I had received stock options, their value could have been in the tens or hundreds of millions.”

This is a story I heard recently from a semiconductor expert. He said, “Chinese companies seem good at identifying and targeting people. I declined, but from what I hear, many good engineers are leaving for China.”

This is not only happening in the semiconductor industry. As China grows in various industries, it actively scouts global talent to secure the key driving force. Also, as the semiconductor field emerges as the main stage of the U.S.-China hegemonic competition, there are concerns that this phenomenon could intensify in the future.

As you may know, the U.S. is adding various regulations to block China’s semiconductor development. They have blocked all exports of equipment used in advanced semiconductor production, not just AI semiconductors. For China, which cannot give up on semiconductors, securing the most important driving force, talent, is a must.

The problem is that this situation does not merely reduce domestic core personnel but could potentially lead to technology leakage. The government has designated semiconductors as a national core technology and is protecting it by law. However, whenever we forget these efforts, the issue of semiconductor technology leakage comes up. In June, a former Samsung Electronics executive was caught trying to set up a Samsung clone factory in China, causing a shock.

Despite U.S. pressure, China is showing off advanced semiconductor technology. Recently, in the industry, news has spread that China’s YMTC has succeeded in mass-producing the latest product of NAND flash, a type of memory semiconductor. NAND increases capacity by stacking data storage cells layer by layer. YMTC has reportedly introduced a 232-layer NAND, close to the industry’s highest layer count of 238 (SK Hynix).

There are skeptical opinions about how much business viability such attempts have and whether their technical capabilities are on par with major companies in the industry. There is an assessment that this was a possible attempt as the difficulty of NAND technology is lower than that of another memory semiconductor item, DRAM. However, this case suggests a lot in predicting how China will confront U.S. sanctions.

Some point out that as the U.S. increases pressure, it may ironically foster China’s semiconductor industry. The argument is that local companies could monopolize China, the largest semiconductor consumption market. The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy said, “If foreign fabless (semiconductor design) companies cannot enter China, it may rather strengthen local fabless competitiveness.” For Korea, the deepening U.S.-China conflict is a situation with more losses than gains in many ways.

The industry expects fierce U.S.-China hegemonic competition next year as well. As there is a U.S. presidential election next year, there may be differences in the U.S. stance depending on whether President Joe Biden is reelected. Still, competition and conflict between the two countries in the semiconductor field, a security asset, are inevitable. We hope that the government and the industry will find a way to enhance domestic semiconductor competitiveness in this situation.