South Korea plans $7.3 billion programme to support chip industry

South Korea is preparing a programme to provide more than 10 trillion won ($7.3 billion) to strengthen the country’s pivotal semiconductor industry, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said. 

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Choi, in a meeting on Friday with local manufacturers of chip materials, parts and equipment, said the government is considering ways to fund the program to support the industry, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Among the options are policy financing from state-owned Korea Development Bank or a joint fund from public, private and policy financing. Details will be announced soon, said Choi, who is also the nation’s Deputy Prime Minister.

The move comes as the US government is pressing allies including South Korea to further tighten restrictions on China’s access to semiconductor technology. American officials also want South Korea to restrict the flow of equipment and technologies for making high-end logic and memory chips to China, Bloomberg News has reported. 

Korea, the world’s biggest memory chip producer, is striving for dominance by investing $470 billion in a semiconductor “mega cluster” outside of Seoul as the US-China rivalry complicates supply chains. To support the plan, the government has proposed measures including tax incentives for investments.  

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