South Korea and Netherlands Joint Statement Agrees to Build Semiconductor Alliance

South Korean President Yoon Seok yeol held talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on December 13th. The two sides issued a joint statement, agreeing to build a “Semiconductor Alliance”, establish a new “2+2” ministerial level dialogue and consultation mechanism for foreign affairs and industry departments the following year, and further deepen the strategic partnership.
Both sides agree that the two countries have a special complementary relationship in the global semiconductor supply chain, and reaffirm their determination to build a semiconductor alliance that covers governments, enterprises, and universities. To this end, both sides agreed to establish a semiconductor dialogue and negotiation mechanism between new economic and trade departments, while promoting semiconductor professional talent training projects.

Both sides also agreed to expand strategic communication channels. Along with the establishment of a ministerial level dialogue mechanism between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry, regular policy consultation meetings and economic joint committee meetings at the assistant level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be held, as well as innovation joint committee meetings between the Ministry of Industry.
Yin Xiyue stated that the goal of the Korean Dutch Semiconductor Alliance is to create the world’s top tier super gap advantage.
Yin Xiyue introduced that during this period, South Korea and the Netherlands maintained close cooperation in the semiconductor field, but took this as an opportunity to build a semiconductor alliance between the two countries. This means that the two countries will jointly explore important issues in the field of technology and closely share important information.
During the visit, South Korean President Yoon Seok yeol visited the ASML cleanroom in the Netherlands and the production of the next generation extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine.
Accompanying Yoon Seok yeol on the trip was a delegation composed of South Korean chip manufacturer Samsung and SK Hynix. Both are the main customers of ASML, while South Korea is the second largest market for ASML sales after Taiwan, China.
Samsung Electronics and ASML have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly invest approximately 1 trillion Korean won (762 million US dollars) to establish a chip research institution in South Korea and develop cutting-edge semiconductor processing technology.