Daejeon Pushes to Host National Semiconductor Research Institute

DAEJEON — Daejeon has launched a push to have a national semiconductor research institute built in the city.

The city said on the 22nd that it held a forum at the National Assembly to discuss the need for a national semiconductor research institute and how to move the project forward.

The forum, titled "Building a National Semiconductor Research Institute in Daejeon for the Success of the Mega-Project Initiative," was co-hosted by lawmakers from the region — Park Beom-kye, Park Yong-gap, Park Jung-hyun, Jang Jong-tae, Jang Chul-min, Cho Seung-rae and Hwang Jung-a — and organized by the city.

Yoon Eui-joon, chairman of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea, delivered the keynote presentation on "The Need for and Role of a National Semiconductor Research Institute in Completing the Mega-Project," and then moderated the discussion.

"Korea's semiconductor industry is enjoying a boom driven by surging AI demand, and it needs a technological edge to stay competitive. Major countries are already mobilizing all their national capabilities to seize technological supremacy in semiconductors," Yoon said. "Korea also needs a comprehensive semiconductor research hub equipped with advanced process infrastructure, like Europe's IMEC, NY Creates in the United States and Taiwan's TSRI."

Also joining the discussion were Kim Hyung-joon, head of the Next-Generation Intelligent Semiconductor Program; Choi Sung-yool, vice president for research at KAIST; Kwon Seok-joon, associate dean at Sungkyunkwan University; Kim Hak-jin, vice president at Nextin; Jin Byung-joo, vice president at ISTE; and Kim Dong-joon, director of the source technology division at the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Participants said the institute should be built as a national semiconductor R&D platform handling the development of next-generation core semiconductor technologies, the commercialization of research results from universities and government-funded institutes, the testing and verification of corporate technologies, support for fabless and materials-parts-equipment companies, the training of future semiconductor talent, and research in strategic fields such as AI chips and advanced packaging.

"A national semiconductor research institute will be the source of technology that sustains the growth of Korea's semiconductor industry," Daejeon Mayor Huh Tae-jung said. "Daejeon intends to play a pivotal role in making the semiconductor mega-project a complete success."

In July, Huh proposed to Prime Minister Han Seong-sook that a national semiconductor research institute be built in Daejeon to lead the drive to advance the semiconductor mega-project.