China Knocks Out South Korea as Second-Largest Semiconductor Market

A study by the Korea Institute of Science, Technology Assessment and Planning (KISTEP) found that China already outperforms South Korea in many important sectors of the semiconductor industry, including the latter’s traditionally strong memory chip segment.

Image Source: SK Hynix

The KISTEP report, based on a survey of 39 South Korean experts in 2024, shows a significant shift in the balance of power in the global semiconductor market. In terms of industrial and technological potential, China’s memory chip manufacturing segment now surpasses that of South Korea and is second only to the United States. The previous KISTEP study was conducted in 2022, when South Korea was in second place, behind only the United States, in memory and chip packaging. China at that time was content with third place in the former category and fourth in the latter.

It is important to note that Chinese memory manufacturers are attacking their competitors not only by the scale of their chip production, but also at the technological level. An example is the same YMTC, which, if it lags behind the world leaders, is only a generation or two at most. By some criteria, this solid-state memory manufacturer even periodically breaks ahead of its foreign competitors.

In the high-density resistive memory segment, China’s technological strength reaches 94.1%, while South Korea is content with 90.9%. In the field of semiconductor technologies related to high-performance computing and low-power AI chips, China scores 88.3%, while South Korea scores 84.1%. In the field of power electronics, China scores 79.8%, while South Korea is content with 67.5%. In the next-generation sensor technology segment, China scored 83.9%, while South Korea is limited to 81.3%.

China and South Korea have reached parity in the field of advanced chip packaging technologies (74.2%), but Taiwan is ahead in their commercialization, but by most criteria the leadership in the semiconductor industry remains with the United States. South Korea is also still ahead of China in the field of production and access to advanced technological processes, but China is already ahead of it in scientific developments in this area. For example, the Chinese CXMT produces chips using 16 nm technology, and Samsung, SK hynix and Micron are capable of producing memory chips using 14 and 12 nm processes. The gap is not so great as to speak of a serious lag in China. Moreover, Chinese companies are forced to develop in the context of tightening sanctions from the United States and its geopolitical allies.