Dignitaries, including Vice Minister Chung Seung-il of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Chairman Jin Gyo-young of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA), currently president of Samsung Electronics in memory business, pose with award winners, honored in recognition of their contribution to the development of the semiconductor industry at a ceremony to celebrate the 13th Semiconductor Day at Coex in Seoul on Oct. 29.

About 100 representatives from semiconductor industry, academia and research circles attended a ceremony to celebrate the 13th Semiconductor Day at COEX in Seoul on Oct. 29.

Semiconductor Day was created in celebration of the nation surpassing the $10 billion milestone in yearly exports in October 1994.

In his opening speech, Chairman Jin Gyo-young of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA), currently president of Samsung Electronics in memory business, said, “Despite a global economy crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korean semiconductor industry has been cruising along beyond expectations.”

He expressed hope the solution of the post-COVID-19 era will be “K-semiconductor” through endless technology innovation, as the solution of the COVID-19 pandemic has become “K-quarantine.”

In his commemorative speech, Vice Minister Chung Seung-il of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, “The semiconductor industry’s establishing itself as the nation’s representative industry, accounting for one-fifth of the nation’s total exports is owed to efforts by all the people gathering here.”

Vice Minister Chung said the government will continue to make massive investments and offer support to help the semiconductor industry maintain its unmatched technology. He stressed that the core infrastructure for the non-face-to-face digital economy, which is on a rapid rise, is the semiconductor.

The coveted Order of Industrial Merit Service, Silver Tower went to Executive Senior Vice President Kang Ho-gyu of Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor Research Institute.

He has been credited with his contribution to overcoming the limitations of size in the memory segment and developing core system semiconductor technologies.

Congratulatory video messages were shown, conveying the thoughts of executives and staff members who were not present at the moment of excitement.

President Chung Eun-seung of the Memory Business conveyed a congratulatory message, asking for Executive Senior Vice President Kang to continuously lead his research institute with the passion with which he has successfully fought.

Executive Senior Vice President Kang has been praised for developing 20-nanometer and 10-nanometer G1, G2, G3 DRAMs and V-NAND technology using an innovative design that stacks layers of cells on top of one another, rather than trying to decrease the cells' length and width.

He has been also lauded for developing the world’s first 7-nano logic technology using extreme ultraviolet process.

Dignitaries, including MOTIE Vice Minister Chung Seung-il looks at products on display at the 13th Semiconductor Day anniversary event. (Photos: MOTIE)