China's rapid rise is putting great pressure on South Korea's advanced industries and technologies.
SMIC accounts for 5.7% of global market share in semiconductor wafer processing industry in Q2-2023, narrowing the gap with Samsung Electronics - Photo: REUTERS
South Korea is facing comprehensive competition from China, from shipbuilding, steel to petrochemical industries, and the most worrying thing is that the semiconductor technology development gap between South Korea and China has narrowed to just one year.
Traditional industrial centers that were once symbols of South Korea's industrialization, such as Pohang, Yeosu, Ulsan and Osong, are now facing a full-blown crisis, Maeil Business reported on November 21.
China dominates shipbuilding market, "squeezing" Korean steel
As of September 2024, China's market share in the global shipbuilding order market is as high as 67%, while South Korea's market share is only 20%.
China has not only improved its technological competitiveness through large-scale production in the production of bulk carriers, but also surpassed South Korea in the fields of tankers and container ships.
Shipbuilding industry experts warn of growing competition from China and say South Korea needs to take stronger measures to avoid falling behind in the high-value-added shipbuilding sector.
Global shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has ordered 24 new container ships from two Chinese shipyards, with a total investment value of about 4 billion USD - Photo: REUTERS
The Korean steel industry is also not very optimistic when on November 19, POSCO, the leading steel corporation in Korea, announced the closure of its first fiber steel plant after more than 45 years of operation.
Previously in July 2024, POSCO closed a steel factory, and a few months later POSCO continued to close another major production facility.
According to analysis, China is selling cheap steel plates to the Korean market at prices below production costs, which further weakens the price competitiveness of Korean steel companies.
Semiconductor industry and memory sector
In terms of the semiconductor industry, there were very few prominent semiconductor companies in October 2023, but now Chinese semiconductor manufacturers such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) and ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) have all become giants in the industry.
According to data from market research firm TrendForce, SMIC ranked 3rd in the global semiconductor wafer processing market in the second quarter of 2023 with a market share of 5.7%, gradually narrowing the market share gap with Samsung Electronics (11.5%).
"The most vigilant competitor of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturing group TSMC is no longer Samsung, but SMIC.
SMIC has rapidly narrowed the technology gap by poaching TSMC's research and development personnel at high salaries, posing a direct threat to industry leaders," said professor Kwon Seok Joon at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea.
In the memory sector, the DRAM technology gap between CXMT and Samsung Electronics has now narrowed to less than 1.5 years. The NAND chip application technology gap between YMTC and Korean companies is also less than a year.
According to the report, the four factors driving China's science and technology development are self-reliance in research and development, a large domestic market, a flexible labor market, and policy and financial support.
China's transformation from a "world's factory" to a "technological powerhouse" has had a profound impact on the global industrial landscape, Maeil Business newspaper noted.
This is not only a competition between Korea and China, but also a global test of technological innovation and industrial transformation, and how Korea seizes the opportunity for transformation will determine its future international competitiveness.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/trung-quoc-troi-day-ve-cong-nghe-han-quoc-dung-ngoi-khong-yen-20241122151152925.htm
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