Semiconductor Special Act to take effect Tuesday, minus 52-hour exemption industry sought

When designating semiconductor clusters, regions outside Greater Seoul will be given priority. The central and local governments will also be able to cover up to 100 percent of the costs of building and operating industrial infrastructure within those clusters.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that the Cabinet approved the enforcement decree for the Special Act on Strengthening the Competitiveness of and Support for the Semiconductor Industry, commonly known as the Semiconductor Special Act.

However, an exemption from the 52-hour workweek for semiconductor research and development personnel — a measure the industry had pushed for — was not included in the act.

The Semiconductor Special Act takes effect Tuesday, shifting semiconductor support policy from project- and budget-driven measures to a permanent, law-based framework. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to establish a dedicated Semiconductor Innovation and Growth Support Unit at the director-general level to oversee policy implementation.

The enforcement decree sets out detailed provisions covering the formation and operation of a Special Committee on Strengthening Semiconductor Industry Competitiveness, procedures for designating semiconductor clusters and related support measures, workforce development support for the semiconductor industry, and the management of a special account for semiconductor competitiveness.

The special committee will be chaired by the president and will include minister-level civil servants from related ministries — including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Science and ICT — as well as experts from industry, academia and research institutions. The committee will deliberate on key policies including the master plan and action plan for strengthening semiconductor industry competitiveness.

On cluster designation, the decree requires that regions outside Greater Seoul be given priority consideration, so that semiconductor ecosystems reflecting local industrial conditions and characteristics can be developed and contribute to balanced national development.

The government had earlier considered excluding Greater Seoul entirely from eligibility for new cluster designations, but backed away after facing opposition from the metropolitan area. When the decree was pre-announced for public comment in June, the language was softened to a provision favoring non-metropolitan regions. The approved decree now explicitly states that regions outside Greater Seoul will be given priority consideration.

Applicants seeking cluster designation must submit a development plan that includes basic objectives and a direction for growth, the proposed name, location and area, the current state of the local semiconductor industry and infrastructure, and plans for workforce development and research capacity building.

The central and local governments may cover between 50 and 100 percent of the total project cost for building and operating industrial infrastructure within a cluster.

Particularly for redundancy facilities and those contributing to supply chain security and industrial safety, the full cost may be covered.

The aim is to reduce the infrastructure burden on companies and ensure stable expansion of the infrastructure needed for semiconductor production.

The decree also allows support for employment matching and retraining of semiconductor companies and specialized workers in non-metropolitan regions to be prioritized, and sets out the criteria and procedures for designating institutions to train semiconductor industry professionals.

Additional provisions cover the procedures for establishing master and action plans, as well as the scope of semiconductor industry statistics compilation.

The Semiconductor Special Act and its enforcement decree take effect Tuesday.

"Now that the legal foundation for a national support framework for the semiconductor industry has been established, we will work closely with related ministries to swiftly advance the key policy tasks under the law," said Kim Jung-kwan, minister of trade, industry and energy.