By Reporter Lee jon young

President Yoon Suk-yeol met with Peter Wennink, the CEO of ASML, a Dutch semiconductor company, on July 28 at the Presidential Office in Yongsan, during his visit to South Korea. This meeting between President Yoon and CEO Wennink is the second one following the bilateral summit between South Korea and the Netherlands in November last year, which aimed to foster cooperation among semiconductor companies.

ASML, the world's leading semiconductor lithography equipment manufacturer, had a groundbreaking ceremony for the "ASML Semiconductor Equipment Cluster" in Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province, on November 16 in 2022. The cluster, with an investment of approximately 240 billion won, will establish a refurbishment and training center and is expected to be completed by 2025.

During the meeting, President Yoon highly appreciated ASML's prominent position in the global semiconductor supply chain as the sole supplier of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment, and he urged for enhanced cooperation and equipment supply to strengthen the competitiveness of our advanced semiconductor manufacturing companies.

Furthermore, he expressed hope that the Hwaseong cluster would become a hub for strengthening collaboration between domestic material, component, and equipment companies and ASML, thereby contributing to the enhancement of the domestic semiconductor industry ecosystem. Both President Yoon and CEO Wennink agreed on the necessity and importance of global cooperation to expand and develop the semiconductor industry ecosystem.

Previously, during three meetings with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, President Yoon recognized that both countries share universal values of liberal democracy and market economy, making them ideal partners for economic security cooperation. He emphasized that if ASML were to establish an additional semiconductor equipment production facility in Korea, it would greatly contribute to synergy creation between the semiconductor industries of both countries and enhance the stability of the global semiconductor supply chain.

CEO Wennink expressed his delight in the smooth progress of the Hwaseong semiconductor cluster, which began construction last November, and conveyed his appreciation for the support from the Korean government. He also positively evaluated the growth of major Korean semiconductor companies and the investment environment in Korea, expressing the hope for continued discussions on semiconductor investment cooperation.

During the meeting, President Yoon personally handed a promotional brochure to CEO Wennink, and said that the Korean government has its willingness to provide maximum investment incentives, hoping that the detailed information in the brochure would be practically helpful in their investment review.

Moving forward, President Yoon plans to continue making diverse efforts to attract investments from global semiconductor industry players through ongoing direct communication and interaction on-site.