The Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups recently hosted the 2024 Fabless Challenge Awards.

The Fabless Challenge, an annual event since 2022, aims to strengthen Korea’s system semiconductor ecosystem by providing opportunities for promising fabless startups and domestic foundries to grow together and achieve innovative results.

This year’s challenge was significant as it marked the first time all of Korea’s major foundries participated, including Samsung Foundry, DB HiTek, and SK KeyFoundry. The support budget for each selected company was also increased, with a maximum of KRW 200 million available.

After a thorough evaluation involving domestic foundries and industry experts, five promising fabless startups were selected: ICTK, Qualitas Semiconductor, TruPixel, EMCORETECH, and POWER LSI.

These selected startups will benefit from priority access to Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) processes at the three foundries, along with additional technical support. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will also provide funding ranging from KRW 100 million to KRW 200 million per company to cover necessary expenses.

The Ministry is committed to continuously enhancing its support policies to foster the growth and global expansion of fabless startups, which are crucial players in the system semiconductor ecosystem. The strategy includes categorizing fabless startups by their growth stages, based on factors like operational experience and technological capability, and providing tailored support in areas such as design assets, prototype production processes, demand-based collaborations with domestic and global enterprises, product verification, and investment attraction.

Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups stated, “Fabless companies and foundries are intrinsically linked within the system semiconductor value chain, and balanced growth through collaboration is essential for the industry’s advancement. Through the Fabless Challenge, we hope domestic foundries can connect with emerging unicorn fabless startups, and that these startups can accelerate the development of cutting-edge semiconductor technologies to drive innovative achievements.”