Abstract

South Korea, under the leadership of President Moon Jae-in (May 2017 - May 2022) and his successor President Yoon Suk-yeol (as of October 2024), has demonstrated a consistent vision through a series of strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing the national semiconductor autonomy, seeking to position itself as a global semiconductor hegemon by 2030. Concurrently, this strategy is viewed as South Korea's response to intense international competition in high-tech industries and the recent trend of global semiconductor supply chain restructuring, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. The South Korean government has made significant and comprehensive efforts, from a strategic vision to policy planning, to realize its ambition of achieving the strategic autonomy in the semiconductor industry, a key source of microchips for many strategic applications today. Building on this understanding, the article utilizes a ‘strategic autonomy’ approach to technology. It examines the domestic and international contexts and conditions to elucidate the motivations driving South Korea's semiconductor autonomy strategy. Based on this framework, the paper outlines the key components of South Korea's semiconductor development strategy and analyzes the practical implementation of its plans toward achieving the strategic autonomy (2019-2024).