South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday said that he would extend tax credits on investments in the domestic semiconductor industry to boost employment and attract more talent.
The country, home to top global memorychip makers Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc, aims to expand tax breaks and support to raise the competitiveness of high-tech sectors, including those involving chips, displays and batteries.
“When I talk to heads of state, what I talk about most about South Korea is BTS and semiconductors,” Yoon told a meeting with chip industry officials and students, referring to the K-pop supergroup.
Photo: EPA-EFE
South Korea is also building a mega chip cluster in Yongin, touted as the world’s largest high-tech chipmaking complex to attract chip equipment and fabless firms.
Yoon said he expected total initial investment of about 622 trillion won (US$473.5 billion) in the cluster and the creation of at least 3 million jobs over 20 years, adding that the government would pour in every possible resource to win a “war” in chips.
In January last year, the South Korean government unveiled a plan to offer large tax breaks to semiconductor firms investing at home, which are set to end this year.
“Tax deduction for semiconductor investments is supposed to expire this year, but we will extend the effect of the law to continue with investment tax deduction,” Yoon said.
Rebutting claims that such tax credits give preferential treatment to large conglomerates, Yoon said increased investments in chips would lead to more jobs and more state tax income in the long term.
Separately, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs plans to recruit semiconductor professionals from overseas by organizing talent-seeking missions to several Southeast Asian countries in the months ahead, officials from the ministry’s Industrial Development Administration (IDA) said.
Similar to last year, delegations composed of company representatives are to visit the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, but not to Singapore on this occasion, in response to calls from academia-government-industry to recruit and groom IC design, assembly and test talent for the domestic semiconductor industry, which is experiencing an acute talent shortage, IDA officials said.
A delegation is to head to the Philippines in March, followed by others to Malaysia and Indonesia in June, and Vietnam in September, they added.
Singapore has been skipped this year as Singaporean professionals prefer to work at local plants set up by MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) for higher monthly salaries and other benefits, rather than coming to Taiwan, they said.
Taiwanese chip firms recruited 316 people to work or study in Taiwan following their first tours to the five Southeast Asian countries last year.
Additional reporting by CNA
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