Rep. Ahn Do-geol, who represents Gwangju's Dongnam-eul district, has launched a policy push to elevate the photonic semiconductor industry — a key technology of the AI era — to the status of a national strategic industry.
Ahn hosted a forum on photonic semiconductor companies Friday at OE Solutions in Gwangju, co-organized with the Korea Photonics Industry and Technology Association, to discuss ways to strengthen the industry's competitiveness and secure national support. The gathering brought together representatives from companies, research institutions and local government to explore building Gwangju into a national advanced semiconductor production base.
Attendees included Lee Gwi-sun, chair of the Future Industry Committee of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City Council, and Vice Chair Oh Mi-seop, along with officials from the Ministry of Employment and Labor's Gwangju Employment Center, the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City government, the Korea Photonics Technology Institute, the Advanced Photonics Research Institute, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, the Korea Electronics Technology Institute, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Chosun University, Chosun University of Technology, the Future Photonics Mutual Prosperity Council, the Korea Photonics Industry and Technology Association, and regional photonic semiconductor companies.
Before the forum, participants toured OE Solutions' optical transceiver production facility and clean room to assess the region's photonic semiconductor manufacturing base and production capabilities.
During the forum, Kang Hyeon-seo, head of the Honam Regional Research Center at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, presented on photonic semiconductor technology and its future outlook. Park Jeong-seon, a center director at the Korea Photonics Industry and Technology Association, outlined plans for training specialist semiconductor workers and upcoming initiatives.
Participants agreed that optical interconnects and advanced packaging — specifically Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) — are core technologies for the next-generation semiconductor industry, amid surging demand for ultra-fast, low-power data transmission driven by the proliferation of AI data centers. Attendees said developing photonic semiconductor technology and building an industrial ecosystem are urgently needed to address the heat generation, power consumption and signal loss associated with conventional electrical-signal-based data transmission.
Ahn Sin-geol, standing vice president of the Korea Photonics Industry and Technology Association, called for the government to designate the development and commercialization of AI semiconductor optical interconnect and advanced packaging technologies as a new national project, and to build shared testing and evaluation infrastructure that companies can use jointly.
"Competitiveness in the AI era depends on how quickly and efficiently data can be processed, and the core technologies that make that possible are photonic semiconductors and optical interconnects," Ahn Do-geol said. "Gwangju is the only region in South Korea with both the research and development capabilities in photonics and the industrial foundation to support them, giving it every competitive advantage needed to lead the country's photonic semiconductor industry."
sij@heraldcorp.com
