The government decided to train 1,400 semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) specialists by 2030 together with the British semiconductor design (fabless) corporations Arm.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Dec. 5 that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Arm to strengthen Korea's semiconductor and AI industries. The agreement was pursued to strengthen cooperation between Korea and SoftBank and Arm, prompted by a meeting that day among President Lee Jae-myung, SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son, and Arm Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rene Haas.
The focus is industry-tailored talent development. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) and Arm will operate the tentative Arm School and plan to produce about 1,400 specialists over five years from 2026 to 2030. They also agreed to expand cooperation in technology exchange and ecosystem strengthening, stronger links among universities, and research and development (R&D).
Arm is the world's largest semiconductor design asset (IP) corporations, with SoftBank holding about 90% equity. Semiconductor IP refers to a design block in which a specific function of a semiconductor is predesigned as a circuit.
The government expects that by training domestic IP professionals with Arm, Korea will be able to greatly boost its competitiveness in system semiconductors, including fabless and foundry (contract manufacturing), where it is relatively weak. The two sides plan to establish a working group going forward to implement the memorandum of understanding and discuss ways to derive detailed outcomes.
Kim Jung-kwan, Minister of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), said, "Through this memorandum of understanding, we have laid the foundation for nurturing the core talent that will be responsible for the future of our AI Semiconductor industry," and added, "We will do our best to build a foundation for cooperation with the world's top global corporations in preparation for the AI era."