Spain PM pitches microchip ambitions to South Korea’s Samsung
Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Nov 17 (EFE).- Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez on Thursday met with senior representatives of Samsung in South Korea to lure investment and pitch his country’s bid to become a leader in the semiconductor and microchip market.
The head of the Spanish government visited Samsung’s chip factory in Pyeongtaek, the most advanced of its kind in the world.
He was met by the head of the Samsung’s electronic device solutions division Kye-hyun Kyung and the president and director general of the foundry business Si-young Choi, who joined him on a tour of the installations before holding a meeting.
On the final day of his visit to South Korea on Friday, the Spanish PM is due to meet Samsung chairman Lee Jae-Yong.
In his meeting Thursday, Sánchez presented his government’s “ambitious” strategy to transform Spain into an important player in the semiconductor value chain through a wide range of incentives and attractive financial mechanisms in order to rapidly grow the sector and bring in top talent, government sources said.
The Spanish government is due to earmark 12 billion euros, including 9 billion of public finances, to fund factories.
Spain’s potential has already attracted a number of multinationals, including American giant Cisco, which last week announced it would set up a European Union semiconductor hub in Barcelona. EFE
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