Follow Innovate UK on the latest Global Expert Mission in Semiconductors to South Korea

Republic of Korea’s technology landscape

South Korea holds a crucial position for Innovate UK, owing to its substantial semiconductor industry and aspirations of becoming a major global “chip powerhouse”. The objectives of this mission are to determine how Innovate UK can best support UK businesses in semiconductor innovation partnerships with South Korea.

The goal is to identify focus areas in terms of technology, sector, location, and the type of programmes required to enhance collaboration between South Korea and the UK. To achieve this, we will review key enabling technologies for the UK’s semiconductor industries, focusing on improving supply chain robustness, and identifying the synergies in policy and strategy between the two countries. This will help us determine whether there is an appetite for further collaboration in semiconductors, mainly related to their manufacture, design, materials and packaging.

Innovate UK will also develop strategies for long-term engagement with the South Korea market and key stakeholders in semiconductors to support business collaboration for new products and services. Finally, we will identify challenges and opportunities for developing innovative technologies, products, and services when considering collaboration.

Exploring the potential for collaboration

In this context, Innovate UK will deliver an in-person Global Expert Mission (GEM) in January 2024, where a group of UK experts will meet private and public sector organisations in South Korea. Their aim is to better understand the semiconductors landscape and explore the potential for collaboration in semiconductor manufacture, design and PDK development, compound (& WBG) semiconductors (i.e. power, photonics, RF, quantum), and advanced packaging – SoC, SiP, heterogeneous/hybrid integrations, silicon photonics.

The team are looking forward to expanding international collaborations and will report back next month. Follow us on X: @IUK_Global and #SemiconductorsGEM.

About Global Expert Missions

Global Expert Missions (GEM) are funded by Innovate UK and designed to build international collaborations with governments, societies, enterprises, institutions, and people from every corner of the globe. With global challenges requiring international perspectives, the programme aims to support the UK government’s ambition to be the international partner of choice and a global hub for innovation by 2035.