As the government and large corporations expand investment to achieve technological self-reliance in materials, parts, and equipment, related corporations are drawing renewed attention. Korea's technology still lags the United States and Japan, and the pace of China's catch-up has accelerated, highlighting vulnerabilities in the domestic supply chain. The government increased next year's research and development (R&D) budget by about 19% from the previous year to 35.3 trillion won, and Samsung Electronics and LG also announced domestic investment plans of 450 trillion won and 100 trillion won, respectively, to strengthen their technology and manufacturing base.
According to the related industry on the 24th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy recently finalized the Second basic plan to strengthen competitiveness in materials, parts, and equipment and the comprehensive plan for specialized clusters in materials, parts, and equipment. The government plans to foster the 15 Super Eul by investing at least 20 billion won per project, focusing on four challenge technologies, including high value-added products, carbon neutrality, and critical minerals. According to a Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) survey, the level of Korea's advanced materials technology scored 83.3, showing a large gap with the United States (100) and Japan (96.1), while the technology gap with China (80.5) is narrowing rapidly.
The government presented a goal of raising this score to 92 by 2030 and increasing the number of domestic materials, parts, and equipment corporations among the Forbes Global 2000 from the current 16 to 25. With the global supply chain being reorganized around artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors, the judgment is that securing core technologies domestically is directly linked not only to corporate competitiveness but also to national security.
Samsung and LG are likewise centering their massive investment plans on expanding domestic R&D and production facilities. Samsung Electronics presented a 450 trillion won investment plan that includes national strategic technologies such as system semiconductors, HPC, next-generation packaging, and fostering the foundry ecosystem, while LG likewise pledged 100 trillion won in investments focused on core businesses such as vehicle components, batteries, chemicals, and displays. The "technological self-reliance" stance has become a mid- to long-term strategic axis for both the government and large corporations.
Amid this trend, materials, parts, and equipment corporations that have achieved localization are coming back into the spotlight. SBB TECH has promoted the localization of basic components such as ballpoint pen balls and ceramic bearings and became the first in Korea to mass-produce harmonic reducers, which Japan had monopolized. Semiconductor equipment company SEMES localized track equipment for photolithography processes, where Japanese corporations have an overwhelming share, confirming the possibility of substitution. KNR Systems developed small servo valves, for which Korea had high import dependence, and supplies them to robotics, defense, and aerospace, while Aidin Robotics is expanding into new products for humanoids based on force and torque sensors priced lower than foreign-made products.
Sunic System is also cited as a domestic corporation performing well in the display deposition equipment sector, where Japan's Canon Tokki holds more than 80% of the market. It recently broke the monopolistic structure of the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) deposition equipment market and signed a contract to supply 8.6-generation products to Chinese display company BOE.
However, in the industry, there is considerable skepticism about whether expanded investment by the government and the private sector will actually lead to strengthening the industrial ecosystem. Large R&D plans are repeatedly announced, but critics say the gap in fundamental technologies and structural limitations remain unchanged. A source in the equipment industry said, "Unlike Samsung Electronics and SK hynix achieving results in the global market, it is rare to find domestic semiconductor equipment corporations with more than 1 trillion won in sales, and in materials and parts, there are not many growth cases if you exclude large corporate affiliates."
Ryu Jae-wan, CEO of SBB TECH, said, "It is clear that interest from the government and large corporations has grown recently, but for domestic technology to be competitive in the global market, long-term research investment is needed rather than short-term business support."