Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon Signs First Friendly Cooperation Agreement with Arizona Governor

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon, who is visiting the United States and Canada to strengthen international exchange and cooperation and attract foreign investment, visited Arizona, famous for its semiconductor industry, opening a new chapter in exchange and cooperation between the two regions. He also visited American semiconductor company ON Semiconductor to encourage additional investment for attracting foreign capital.

Governor Kim met with Governor Katie Hobbs at the Arizona Commerce Authority in Phoenix, Arizona on the afternoon of the 14th local time and signed a friendly cooperation agreement. With this, Arizona becomes the fourth U.S. state to establish a friendly cooperation relationship with Gyeonggi Province, following Texas, Michigan, and California.

Governor Kim Dong-yeon said, "Gyeonggi Province and Arizona are natural partners from the start, and today's agreement will further strengthen our innovation alliance in various fields including advanced industries and climate change. Let us build a Gyeonggi-Arizona line in the advanced industries, semiconductor, and battery sectors. The Gyeonggi-Arizona line will be the starting point for our mutual prosperity and long-term partnership."

Governor Katie Hobbs said, "I believe the two regions share many similarities, and through each other's strengths, we can achieve results that benefit the people of our regions. Through technology cooperation, research and development (R&D;) cooperation, and innovation sharing in various fields such as batteries, semiconductors, and automobiles, we can contribute to each region's economy, develop talent, and create more jobs."

Governor Kim also explained the difficulties in obtaining professional visas for Korean professionals related to Korean corporate investment in Arizona and requested that Governor Hobbs make efforts to pass the Korean Partner Act, which is currently pending in Congress, to increase the Korean professional visa quota. This is one aspect of economic diplomacy to support employment of Korean nationals in the United States, and Governor Hobbs responded that she would make efforts as much as possible.

According to this agreement, the two regions agreed to cooperate in business exchange, startups, IT, advanced industries (electric vehicles, batteries, semiconductors, etc.), youth, culture & sports, and climate crisis.

As a first example of exchange cooperation, the Next-Generation Convergence Technology Institute located in Gyeonggi Province and Hanyang University delivered a Letter of Intent (LOI) to Arizona State University for joint development of semiconductor technology. The letter of intent included joint research and development projects in the semiconductor field and shared use of infrastructure. The Next-Generation Convergence Technology Institute will support research on next-generation semiconductor materials, Arizona State University will conduct research using 300mm process equipment, and Hanyang University will cooperate in nano-metrology and other fields. Innovative semiconductor companies in the province including Park Systems Corporation, AMOGREEN TECH Co., Ltd., Dawon Nexview Co., Ltd., and JOINTECH Co., Ltd. are also expected to participate in the research together.

In response, Arizona State University agreed to proceed with specific working discussions on semiconductor joint research and development and workforce development proposed in the letter of intent, and it is expected that related research will proceed in the future. Arizona State University is known for possessing one of the world's most advanced semiconductor research institutes (AEP Core) within the university.

Gyeonggi Province plans to establish new exchange relationships by using the common ground with Arizona, a hub of advanced industries such as semiconductors and batteries. In particular, given Arizona's membership in the U.S. Climate Alliance, comprised of governors actively engaged in climate response, Gyeonggi Province expects to cooperate internationally on climate crisis response as a local government.

Following this, Governor Kim Dong-yeon met with ON Semiconductor Chairman Hassane El-Khoury, Chief Operating Officer Wang Weiqing, and President Kang Byung-gon at ON Semiconductor headquarters in Scottsdale at 1 p.m. and emphasized mutual cooperation with SMEs in Gyeonggi Province and additional investment.

According to a New York Times report from March 20, ON Semiconductor is known to be considering additional investment of $2 billion. Accordingly, Gyeonggi Province visited the headquarters on this day to attract ON Semiconductor's additional investment in the non-memory sector to Gyeonggi Province.

ON Semiconductor Chief Operating Officer Wang Weiqing said, "Over the past two years, we have invested over $1 billion in the Bucheon site to create a new silicon carbide manufacturing line. We would appreciate your continued administrative and financial support for additional investment in the future."

ON Semiconductor Chairman Hassane El-Khoury, who arrived at the meeting venue approximately 50 minutes late due to attending a government meeting held in Washington DC, said, "I wanted to meet you even for a short time, so I flew here urgently. I appreciate your good support for ON Semiconductor Korea's investment. Non-memory semiconductors manufactured in Bucheon will be installed in electric vehicles around the world in the future."

Governor Kim Dong-yeon said, "ON Semiconductor Korea is like the pioneer of Korean semiconductor history and is a very important partner to Gyeonggi Province. I ask for an active investment decision, and along with Bucheon City, I will make efforts to provide necessary administrative and financial support. ON Semiconductor Korea has maintained a very good partnership with Gyeonggi Province and Bucheon City over the years. I hope this will be actively considered."

ON Semiconductor, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, not only leads the automotive industry but also leads mega-trend changes such as electric vehicles and energy grids, industrial automation, 5G, and cloud infrastructure, recording $8.3 billion in revenue last year. In 2016, ON Semiconductor acquired the successor company of Korean semiconductors founded in Bucheon in 1974, and ON Semiconductor has shared the history of Korean semiconductors. In October last year, it completed a cutting-edge research institute and manufacturing facility for next-generation non-memory power semiconductors in Bucheon. In particular, the facility completed this time is the world's largest state-of-the-art facility capable of manufacturing over 1 million 200mm SiC wafers annually, and it is anticipated to become a strategic stronghold that will further solidify ON Semiconductor's industry leadership position.

Meanwhile, Governor Kim Dong-yeon visited ON Semiconductor together with representatives of SMEs based in Gyeonggi Province, including Park Systems Corporation, AMOGREEN TECH Co., Ltd., Dawon Nexview Co., Ltd., and JOINTECH Co., Ltd. This visit not only strengthened the domestic semiconductor SME ecosystem but also provided important exchange opportunities for semiconductor parts suppliers in the Gyeonggi region.