Kyung Kye-hyun, standing advisor at Samsung Electronics, delivers a keynote on Korea’s semiconductor industry strategy at the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK) forum held at L Tower in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 18th. Reporter Kim Yoon-soo
Kyung Kye-hyun, a standing adviser and former head of Samsung Electronics’ (005930.KS) Device Solutions (DS) division, forecast that memory chip prices will decline starting in the second half of next year, urging Korean industry to prepare in advance.
Kyung delivered the keynote address at the 285th NAEK Forum hosted by the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK) at L-Tower in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday. “Chinese companies are aggressively expanding their production capacity (CAPA),” he said. “The market could shift starting in the second half of next year or the first half of 2028, when memory supply will surge.”
Citing global market research firms, Kyung projected that memory prices will fall from the second half of next year as global memory CAPA expands rapidly. “If returns on Big Tech’s capital expenditure (CAPEX) decline, there is a possibility of investment cutbacks,” he said, warning that not only prices but also memory demand itself could shrink after 2028.
The expert, who previously led Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor business, argued that while Korean industry is currently enjoying unprecedented growth by tapping Big Tech’s memory demand under the leadership of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix (000660.KS), it must prepare for the period after the boom. “Korea holds a 70% share of the DRAM market but only 1.5% of the fabless (chip design specialist) market, and unlike Taiwan, its full-stack semiconductor ecosystem encompassing fabless is fragile,” Kyung pointed out.
Kyung advised that “Korea must leap forward as a deep-tech-based manufacturing nation.” His point was that Korea should independently secure advanced technologies — including memory, fabless-based system semiconductors, and sovereign AI — and actively apply them to its existing strength in manufacturing. “It is difficult for Korea to compete simultaneously with the United States and China in both hardware and software,” he added. “It is important for Korea to do what it can do well, and for this, we must seriously consider how to introduce AI.”