S. Korea, Netherlands sign agreements on semiconductor, other industries

▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a business forum in Amsterdam on Dec. 13, 2023. (Yonhap)

S Korea-Netherlands-biz forum

S. Korea, Netherlands sign agreements on semiconductor, other industries

AMSTERDAM/SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that South Korea and the Netherlands have agreed to expand the scope of their cooperation in the semiconductor industry to that of an industrial alliance level that encompasses public and private sectors, as well as academia.

Yoon was on a four-day state visit to the Netherlands, focusing on ensuring a stable supply chain of key materials and expanding bilateral semiconductor industry cooperation.

"The two countries' companies will establish an R&D center in South Korea, and graduate school students will learn cutting-edge technologies together, while the governments agreed to establish chip dialogue channels," Yoon said during a bilateral business forum held in Amsterdam.

The forum was attended by 200 entrepreneurs of the two countries, including Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and ASML CEO Peter Wennink.

Dutch semiconductor equipment supplier ASML is a key partner for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the world's two largest memory chip makers.

Yoon said renewable energy sectors, including nuclear energy, hydrogen and wind power, also have potential for bilateral cooperation, vowing to support South Korea's bid for the Dutch project to build two nuclear reactors.

On the sidelines of the forum, companies and institutions of the two countries signed 19 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and agreements in areas of cutting-edge technology, renewable energy, logistics and agriculture.

Among them is an MOU signed between South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy on cooperation in nuclear energy.

The agreement is aimed at paving the way for South Korea's export of reactors, as the Netherlands plans to build two nuclear power plants by 2035, the Seoul ministry said.

The ministry also signed a separate MOU with the Dutch foreign ministry to boost collaboration in the supply chain of key materials in high-tech industries, including those involving semiconductors, and establish working-level dialogue channels between the two countries.

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