Yang Hyang-Ja, one of Samsung's veterans, said: "Technological supremacy is one way South Korea can take a leadership role in any security-related agenda."
In her three decades at Samsung Electronics Co., Yang Hyang-Ja has helped shape the 84-year-old conglomerate's current dominance in global memory chip manufacturing. Now she's taking on a broader challenge: ensuring that South Korea remains relevant as the United States and China compete for semiconductors.
Liang Xiangzi started as a researcher assistant at this legendary company, then led the key memory chip development department, and was the chief architect who funded and stimulated its domestic chip industry nationwide. She told Bloomberg Television that her mission is increasingly important as the United States, China and Japan invest billions of dollars in building their own chip supply chains, casting a shadow over South Korea's future role in semiconductors.
This is a national security issue, she said, echoing the views of those in Washington and Beijing who are pouring talent, money and policy support into the development of silicon to power future technologies, from artificial intelligence and the Metaverse to next-generation computing, and especially military capabilities.
Yang Xiangzi said in an interview in December: South Korea is in a chip war, and technological hegemony is a way that South Korea can take a leadership role in any security-related agenda, such as foreign affairs and defense issues, without being affected by other countries.
Yang Hyang-ja, who once served as president of South Korea's National Institute of Human Resources Management (NHI), leads a 13-member special committee set up this year by Chairman Yoon Suk Yeol's ruling party to brainstorm solutions, arguing that only through strong direct intervention Seoul can expand its position in the $550 billion global semiconductor industry.
She is one of a growing number of global policymakers embracing technology protectionism, after logistical woes caused by the pandemic highlighted countries’ interdependence on critical electronic components. She won an ally in Yin, who joined Yang's call for more policies to help the country's local chip industry, which includes SK Hynix Corp and Samsung.
Her efforts may be starting to bear fruit. Last month, Congress passed South Korea’s version of the American Chip Act. Led by Liang Xiangzi , the move speeds up the approval process for building factories in metropolitan areas while increasing the number of technical vocational schools. Separately, Congress passed a preliminary bill to provide an 8% tax credit to large companies investing in semiconductor manufacturing, which is far lower than the 20% to 25% tax credit proposed by Liang Xiangzi .
Liang Xiangzi said these gestures were far from the billions of dollars in subsidies other countries had pledged for chip production, adding that short-term political interests were blinding lawmakers in the National Assembly. In turn, some of her peers argue that overly generous incentives threaten government finances and only benefit large corporations.
On Tuesday, the Treasury Department announced a plan to increase the tax deduction for capital expenditures by large companies to 25%. It is unusual for the government to propose substantive reforms so soon after lawmakers pass the bill.
Liang Xiangzi said that unless the government increases incentives, more Korean companies may move their main production facilities to the United States and bring their best engineers with them. Samsung plans to build a $17 billion semiconductor factory in Texas and has raised the possibility of investing nearly $200 billion in a series of factories in Austin and Tyler.
She also said South Korea has a unique opportunity to respond to this trend. Taiwan - home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. - produces most of the cutting-edge chips that control the latest iPhones, servers and supercomputers. That sparked calls around the world to diversify production away from the island, which has an uncertain future.
Liang Xiangzi claims: Samsung is the only company in the world that can fill TSMC's position
Liang Xiangzi first entered politics in 2016 at the encouragement of former President Moon Jae-in. She left the Democratic Party in 2021 amid criticism of her response to a sexual assault case against one of her aides, who was also an aide and a relative of hers. beamed and later apologized. The police investigation did not result in any charges against the lawmakers.
chip policy takes up her time now. Escalating sanctions on advanced technology have put increasing pressure on the country to choose between its security ally the United States and its largest trading partner China. Both sides have asked South Korea to expand its chip production partnership.
But Seoul sidestepped explicit comments about its commitment to the Biden administration to sanction exports of U.S.-affiliated technology to China. Yang Xiangzi said the delicate situation highlighted the need for South Korea to build its own domestic technological capabilities - otherwise it risks becoming increasingly dependent on foreign powers.
Liang said: "It is time to provide more incentives to Korean companies to build production capabilities at home instead of abroad. South Korea needs to do more to retain young talents. Otherwise how will the country survive? It will become a new technology colony. "
