A Samsung Electronics semiconductor manufacturing plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Korea Times file

By Lee Kyung-min

The incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration will create education and training courses to help foster highly skilled professionals in the semiconductor industry, a key growth driver feared to experience a shortage of about 30,000 workers over the next decade, according to the presidential transition committee, Tuesday.

The measure is part of efforts to increase government support to help sharpen the competitiveness of the high-tech industry, the global strength of which is increasingly being linked to national security amid the intensifying hegemony war between the U.S. and China.

Also advancing the drive is the shared concern that Korea, the global leader in memory chip manufacturing, could fall behind in the logic chip industry, trailing Taiwan's TSMC by a wide margin.

Under the envisioned plan, graduate school programs will be set up to expedite integrated undergrad learning courses at universities to be designated by the government as high education institutions specializing in "semiconductor studies," grounds for sizable and stable state grants.

Masters and doctorate programs will be available at the government-designated universities, where a large number of specialists with expertise in artificial intelligence will be nurtured, along with an expanded pool of academics with relevant experience and research specialties.

Humanities and social science majors will be encouraged to instead find interest in semiconductor studies, with an expanded program to broaden their scope of specialty areas to parts, materials and equipment industries.

"The shortage of semiconductor experts is a concern shared not only by small- and medium-sized enterprises, but also their large counterparts, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix," the committee's vice spokesman, Kim Ki-heung, said. "The industry is feared to be 30,000 workers short by 2031."

Data provided by the committee showed that semiconductor exports stood at $128 billion (157 trillion won) last year, accounting for 20 percent of the country's export total.

Semiconductor facility investment came to 55.4 trillion won, accounting for 55.3 percent of the facilities investments made by the country's manufacturing industries.

The plan also includes hefty government investment to promote the foundry business, including fabless manufacturing, mostly in the form of simplified licensing procedures in building and expanding chipmaking facilities.

Chief among other deregulation measures is an increase in the amount of tax credit for semiconductor firms, with specifics to be determined by the finance and trade ministries.