The Korea Photonics Industry Promotion Association held a special seminar of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Future Advanced Industry Forum on Wednesday at Oryong Hall of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, bringing together the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), the Korea Electronics Technology Institute, the Advanced Photonics Research Institute, GIST, the Korea Photonics Technology Institute, Chonnam National University, Chosun University, Chosun University of Technology and the Korea Photonics Technology Industry Association.
The special seminar was the inaugural event of the forum, which is set to officially launch in October. It was organized to discuss ways to build a regional innovation ecosystem centered on optical semiconductors — a technology drawing growing attention as a core enabler of the AI era.
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Ahn Do-geol attended and said he would actively support efforts to develop AI semiconductors and optical semiconductors as future national growth engines and to position the South Jeolla-Gwangju region as a leader in the sector. Lawmakers Jeong Jin-uk and Im Mun-yeong, along with Buk-gu District Mayor Shin Su-jeong, delivered video congratulatory remarks emphasizing the importance of industry-academia-research-government cooperation.
Officials from the South Jeolla-Gwangju integrated special city also attended, signaling their commitment to policy cooperation.
About 160 participants from industry, academia, research institutions and government attended, including lawmaker Ahn, Kim Yeong-seon, president of the Jeonnam Research Institute, Kim Gyu-nam, chief executive of Korea Alps, Jeon Won, executive director at Microsoft Korea, Kwon Chang-sun, vice president of OE Solutions, and Lee Sang-ho, vice president of Cosset.
The seminar designated "Strategies for building an optical semiconductor innovation ecosystem — the core of the future semiconductor industry" as its first policy agenda, with focused discussion on the role of optical semiconductors in the AI semiconductor era and ways to secure regional competitiveness.
Participants agreed that advances in AI technology are shifting the industry's central challenge from computing performance to data transmission, and that optical interconnect and silicon photonics technologies will form the critical foundation for ultra-fast, low-power data centers.
They also raised the need to leverage the South Jeolla-Gwangju region's photonics industry base, research and development capabilities, and advanced packaging infrastructure to pursue the establishment of a silicon photonics research center, a public optical semiconductor fab and an optical interconnect demonstration infrastructure as national strategic projects.
In the keynote address, Park Yeong-jun, chief technology and marketing officer of Lifack Co., outlined commercialization strategies for optical semiconductor technology in the AI semiconductor era and offered a global market outlook. Experts from Chonnam National University, ETRI and the Korea Electronics Technology Institute then presented on optical interconnect and co-packaged optics technology, international standardization trends, advanced packaging demonstration infrastructure and ways to strengthen the regional semiconductor industry's competitiveness.
The panel discussion produced a range of policy recommendations, including building a Korean-style public optical semiconductor fab, localizing the silicon photonics supply chain, establishing an advanced packaging demonstration platform, nurturing materials, components and equipment companies, developing specialized talent, and pursuing large-scale pan-government projects.
Ahn Sin-geol, executive vice president of the Korea Photonics Industry Promotion Association, said the special seminar marked "the first step of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Future Advanced Industry Forum, starting with optical semiconductors," adding that the association would "strengthen industry-academia-research-government cooperation to serve as a policy hub for developing South Jeolla-Gwangju into a core base for South Korea's future advanced industries."
sij@heraldcorp.com
