South Korea and the Netherlands held the first department-level semiconductor dialogue to discuss equipment, packaging and other fields.

South Korean President Yoon Seok-yue visited the Netherlands in December 2023, communicated with Dutch leaders and ASML CEO, and agreed to build a "Semiconductor Alliance." On February 19, 2024, South Korea announced the official launch of a regular working dialogue mechanism at the director-level of semiconductor departments between the two countries. South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated on February 19 that the first Korea-Dutch Semiconductor Dialogue was held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Lee Yong-pil, the cutting-edge industrial policy officer of the Ministry of Industry, and Serpil Tascioglu, director of industrial policy at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy of the Netherlands, attended the meeting as chief representatives respectively.

The two parties jointly discussed the large-scale cluster industrial park construction plan announced by the Korean government in January this year and the semiconductor industry policies of the two countries, and discussed technical cooperation plans in the fields of semiconductor design, equipment and packaging.

The two parties also exchanged views on the operation plan of the "Korea-Dutch Advanced Semiconductor Academy", an educational exchange project aimed at cultivating semiconductor professionals. It is reported that from February 19th to 23rd, a total of 60 master's and doctoral students in the semiconductor field from the two countries participated in the first event of this education project. The project will be dedicated to cultivating 500 talents with excellent semiconductor expertise in the next five years.

Both sides agreed on the need to strengthen inter-industry docking cooperation to ensure the stability of the semiconductor supply chain, and discussed support plans for exploring new business opportunities through business roundtables and other activities.

Lee Yong-pil pointed out that cooperation in the semiconductor field between the two countries plays a core role in the semiconductor supply chain. It not only helps to enhance the competitiveness of the two countries' semiconductor industries, but also plays an important role in promoting the stability of the global semiconductor supply chain. We look forward to the two sides continuing to carry out substantive cooperation through the Semiconductor Dialogue in the future.