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How do you manage to just push out one video after the other so well written and researched? You are a true talent and the topics are excellently reported on!

Samsung’s foray into the digital camera market would make an interesting story. They dumped *piles* of money into it, developed the then most-advanced camera image processor on the planet and introduced a camera with autofocus and auto-triggering capabilities far beyond the competition (the NX-1). Then they just pulled the plug. The scale of their efforts was amazing. They somehow paid enough money to hire away the principal architect of Canon’s DIGIC processor line, and hired scores of other Japanese camera engineers; they had entire floors of Japanese engineers in the R&D center with accompanying squads of technical interpreters to facilitate communications between the Japanese and Korean engineers. They were set to be serious competition for Canon, Nikon and Sony, but when sales failed to grow as rapidly as they expected, combined with a general downturn in the industry, they pulled the plug practically overnight. I’d love to know more of what went on behind the scenes, but it might be difficult to discover. (OTOH, I do know a guy who could tell the full story if you could convince him to do so :-)

00:02 Introduction and Sponsorship 02:11 Korea's Entry into Semiconductor Industry 03:58 Government Support and Investment 05:01 Samsung's Ambitious Tokyo Declaration 06:52 Focus on Memory Chips 09:19 Technology Transfer and Equipment Import 11:45 Challenges faced by Samsung, Hyundai, and LG in the early days of their semiconductor divisions 15:11 Favorable economic developments for Korea in the mid-1980s 16:01 Samsung's success in the semiconductor market and validation of Korean manufacturers 18:03 Collaborative project and subsidies for the Big Three semiconductor companies 19:46 LG's partnership with Hitachi to compete in the memory market 21:03 Korean memory industry at its peak and the challenges of overcapacity 22:01 Vulnerability of Korean semiconductor companies due to high debt ratios 23:31 Samsung's focus on consumer items 24:23 Different situation for LG and Hyundai 25:17 Government's bailout and reforms 26:01 Big deals and challenges for LG and Hyundai 27:34 Birth of Heinix and its struggles 29:56 Efforts to revive Heinix and its sale to SK Group 32:43 EU's subsidies case and WTO's decision 33:42 Government's role in the semiconductor industry

What about Korean superconductors?

I remember in the 50s when I was a little boy. My father was a foreman at a steel company in Warren, Ohio. Many times Japanese businessmen stayed at our home as my father showed them how to make steel. Long story short, the Japanese production of cut-rate steel doomed the US steel industry. Then Korea does the same thing to Japan in high-tech and semi-conductors. And, "the beat goes on."

"No matter what it takes, Samsung will enter the semiconductor business, so please deliver the news to the readers of your newspaper" 😳what a quote

Thank you for an excellent review of the growth of the Korean semiconductor industry. I enjoyed this video because I was very involved in building many Hyundai semiconductor fabs in Korea. I was also involved in the Hyundai Eugene fab. I visited the Hyundai Scottish fab site several times before Hyundai shut down the project. Many of my friends were among those who were laid off by Hyundai Semiconductor. One thing that I need to point out to you is that the location of Hyundai Semiconductor is not Incheon, but rather Icheon. Incheon is the location of the major airport which replaced Kimpo as the main Seoul airport. Incheon is located to the west of Seoul. The Hyundai Semiconductor headquarters was in Icheon which is located about 1 hour southeast of Seoul. The city names are close but not identical. Incheon is 인천 仁川 and Icheon is 이천 利川. The Koreans frequently would ask which city that I meant when I spoke of Icheon. I would clarify it as Kyoungkido Icheon which is specific for Icheon since Incheon is a specially designated "Kwanak" city.

I remember rows of young Korean female workers working in Fairchild semiconductor packaging factory in southern port city of Masan, South Korea (free trade zone) in '70s. When Samsung plunged into semicon business in early '80, everyone were very skeptical, including Korean gov't and industry. Now nearly 40 years have passed and I recently visited Pyuntaek, where Samsung is doing their business. I see sea of semiconductor factories endless to horizon, where once was endless rice paddy field. It was perfect example of turning mulberry tree forest into blue sea (Korean proverb, 桑田碧海). Korean and Samsung archived the impossible.

I have a vivid memory of watching the news just as the Asian financial crisis hit, and seeing people in South Korea donating their gold to banks (I guess it was the central bank). I was very young at the time, and we were largely insulated from the AFC here in Australia as our economy was more aligned with other developed economies. It was amazing to see - people giving over their own assets in a bid to help their nation. That footage has stayed with me, decades after the fact.

witnessing korean work ethic in person was incredible. they described to me as "our only natural resource is us" and they were able to take that and turn the country into a world power.

the rate you're pumping out these videos is nuts!

I cant stress enough how smart these videos make me feel lol. Seriously though, you do such a fantastic job of bringing to life these stories and their, at times abstruse elements, in a way that makes even a poor math student like myself feel engaged and capable of comprehending. Thank you for making this formerly mysterious world visible in such consistently entertaining and informative way!

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4:49 I was confused as to why a car manufacturer (Hyundai) was in the semiconductor business until I looked it up. This I why I subscribe.

This was a thrilling saga. Fantastic presentation! 😃

Wow, quite the undertaking of a video. great presentation as always.

Absolutely love this channel. Thanks so much for the consistent awesome content.

Much respect to Samsung, Hynix, and Korea.

I don't know who needs to hear this but stop saving all your money. Venture into Investing some, if you really want financial freedom.

Love your channel. Thank you.

Dude how do you pump these out so quickly

i love everything you talk about man keep up the awesome videos

The dictators who came to power via a coup d'état in Korea are interesting. Military dictators in other countries make the country sick with corruption. However, South Korea's Park Chung-hee turned an agricultural country into a heavy-industry country, and Chun Doo-hwan bet the country's fate on the semiconductor industry. Paradoxically, this kind of gamble on the fate of the country is not possible in a democratic country. But it turned Korea, the poorest country, into an advanced country.

Your channel is awesome!

Seriously you do a fantastic job🎉

Great vid!

You do such a impresseive job with these videos! Your storytelling and research is unparalleled. I genuinely feel smarter at the end of every video of yours. We appreciate everything you do 🙏

What are you recording audio with? Running a high pass filter would be fantastic.

LG was basically its name from Lucky-Goldstar which was changed from since 1992. Because the founder's son name was Koo-Lak Hee.(=Lucky) :D

Your videos cover news & history very interesting! ;))

The last sentence of the very good presentation ... is interesting!

Great vid as always. We need an intro to superconductors now with all the craziness with LK-99 going on.

Yay, your first sponsor, get that bag, bro!

such a big fan of your content. please keep it up!

The South Korean effort to educate (formal education - schooling) its people is fantastic! Have you done a video about it? Thanks!

Really like the pictures of people and places you provide. Plus you hit topics that interest me. Thanks!

Love your burger shop analogy. “In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement it like hell.” ~Jack Welch

Looking forward to the superconductor video in ten years

Great piece, but I kinda wished the ending was a bit longer.

The fast and furious rise of Korean Room Temperature Superconductor (LK99)

LG = "lucky goldstar"

Ug. The ads! I pay for KZfaq red, and this channel used to be one of my favorite because it didn't slather an ad into the content itself.

Been using korean cars and phones for a while. Thanks from Kazakhstan.

Honestly It is hard to believe Japan having so much industrial capabilities (Canon, Toshiba, Hitachi, Nikon and so on) failed to overtake processor manufscturing market to TSMC.

Weird to think of all this happening at the same time democracy was taking permanent root. Such a heartening success story that I wish more developing countries could experience.

may i ask where do you get all the information ? Is it internet research or do you study such topics in university ?

Ah brings back memories, Playstation HQ Akasakamitsuke rolled out the red carpet for Samsung flash memory while woe is me waited in line with clock, sram and psoc.

S in Samsung stands for Semiconductor but now Superconductor.

Very interesting chunky video explaining a lot of the current situation. I suppose the video will be valuable for many years to come, as most of the described events cover large timespans and won't likely change abruptly.

India : Take notes seriously but losing talents and expertise at a alarming rate at the meantime.

holy moly that was a wild ride. the 'economy' (freakonomy) of Magic Debt really is a subversive thing. Free money, free power.

I have been using either SK Hynix on my previous laptop DDR3L memory, and now with my new laptop using Samsung's DDR5 RAM

Great summary yes DDR is a very price battle business I agree

12:30 Samsung has also been building ships tho

Thanks

every time you make a korea video the video is summarized in "the government being cucked by the chaebol"

To think that Fred Terman was also involved in guiding the building of technical human capital base in S.K is just wild. That man was a gem.

It's not Incheon(인천), it's Icheon(이천).

So it took 11 minutes before you mentioned that one word. Even though there were two opportunities to do it before that. I feel like it was a strategic decision to delay mentioning it. :D

Irony that Micron kicked off its biggest competitor - Samsung.

You should do a video on Chebols about how and why they started and how they are still able to keep going in the modern world today.

Stack beef patties == stacked memory chips.

10:05 closed captions say ##The Burger Shop Whhhaaaaat?

'Ey I have a Daewoo microwave that I bought mega cheap in a supermarket a few years ago, that hasn't failed me yet :D Go Daewoo!

Thanks Asianometry

I hear a lot about lost billions. Ouch

GREAT VIDEO !!!! I had miss conception of force sale of LG chip by Korean government(Probably was) As a very close friendship with LG founders grand sons…~~~~~~

Video starts around 2:30. Can believe i listened to that.

*describes the process of making a burger* Me: that don't sound like McDonald's at all!

1985 market crash??! Isn't it 1987?

Yes. Japan certainly helped South Korea's semiconductor technology, but Japan get helped by U.S. technology in the 1950s and 60s, so U.S. engineers trained Japanese engineers, and that's how it started. The claim by some Japanese that Kaoru Takeuchi was a traitor and that he built the Korean semiconductor industry is too much nationalistic thinking. Japan's semiconductor industry collapsed because the U.S. sanctioned Japan's semiconductor monopoly due to failed diplomacy with the U.S, and the second reason is the Japanese government's own mistakes. They did not restructure after the bubble burst, which led to the zombification of major tech companies.

@Asianometry I am always delighted by the thoroughness of your research, I enjoy your productions quite a lot. However, I have a small note: You used "megabits" throughout this video when you should have used "megabytes". In short, one megabit represents one million bits, whereas one megabyte represents EIGHT million bits, so they are quite different. Furthermore, megabits is used in data transmission (such as in video streaming), and megabytes is used in data storage (such as in computer memory). Cheers.

You are making excellent videos. I lived in Korea at several times. My first work in Korea was at Hyundai Semiconduction in Icheon 이천시 利川市. You had it written as "Incheon." where the new airport is located. Many people make this mistake. I worked on the construction of Hyundai fabs E1, E2, E3 and R2 in Icheon. I was in the process of starting a business in Korea when the Asian economic crisis arrived. Perfect timing! Several years later, I worked in Asan 아산시 牙山市. My company car was a Samsung SM5. It was a good car based on the Nissan Altima. Keep up the great work!

I'm actually curious about our industrial and technological capabilities in Turkey. It's 20th largest country by GDP and 11 by PPP. I honestly don't have knowledge make deep researches about these areas. Would you be interested in making a video about any topic you think worth to mention about Turkey? 🙏

Love the comment "scientifically speaking, Hynix ate a turd sandwich all the way down" 😄

Please do a video on lk99?

Superconducting cpus next

I still remember that hynix class action lawsuit here in the US. If I remember it was against all of the Korean manufacturers. I still remember my big 14 dollar check from it! 🤣

At first (after first waking up) I read the title and thought it was a sequel to Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift

I just love yr videos and stuff,quite informative interesting videos

Soon: "the fast and furious rise of Korean SUPERconductors"

I love that your videos are very interesting and very detailed. Can you please do one about the challenging relationship between Aian and Southern Latin America? I think would be worth the shoot. Thanks

Do not see the point of tecnology transfers in any industry.

"Vitalic design SUCK" sounded so vehement tat for a second there I tot they murdered a family member. "This huhaha" also was pretty hilarious😂😂

Nice content. Thank you

Great video. I wonder if korean companies had of been beholden to stock market investors the same way intel was (and is) this success would not have been possible. Focus on quarterly results, short term management incentives, buybacks instead of reinvesting etc, none of it is conducive to long term success as seen with intel.

I know, but why is the thumbnail a bbq?

I am from Taiwan. Although Taiwan’s semiconductors are temporarily ahead, and advanced manufacturing processes（3nm） have reached the physical limit（1nm=3-5atoms), it is only a matter of time before South Korea catches up with Taiwan. Samsung Intel is the most honorable opponent

can you do videos about these 3 topics -malaysia semiconductor industry -cancer risks for workers in semiconductor fabs -ASMLs upcoming High NA machines

Why DRAM in one syllable but SRAM in two?

When you have kind uncle called Sam, who is willing to transfer technology and offer unlimited markets, you can rise very fast indeed. That's the story of South Korea. But if you piss off that uncle, then you fall. That will be the story of China this decade.

This was an excellent short documentary on Korean Semiconductor industry! I have only 2 negatives to mention. 1. There was some kind of annoying humming sound interference notificable about ¼ way into the clip? 2. I would love to know the more modern story of Korean Semiconductor industry post 2005? I'm my opinion this is just where things started explode (figuratively speaking) for Korea in the semiconductor space? As in.....you cut to finish just as you reached the most exciting part of the story? Hopefully you'll be able to give us the post 2005 to current day success of Korean tech and expand upon what we now see as booming success for Samsung and delve more deeply into mobile phone production industries in Korea and also their complex partnerships with American tech companies like Microsoft as well as the battles between Samsung and Apple with Japanese SHARP getting squished like meat in the sandwiches? Thanks again for your very informative and high quality video production, as always

I think he just likes saying the word "chaebol"

Decades later, economists *still* haven't realized that only cancer has infinite growth!

"But Vitelic's design sucked!" my favorite line.

The main reason might be that US was busy fighting a chip war with Japan, and ignored Korea chip industry rise.

Was this your first non-asianometry sponsor?! Congrats on attracting outside money. I am sure it is not enough, but hopefully it helps to justify all the hard work over time.

I guess if samsung take a shit, hyundai and goldstar will follow suit

Being a retired EE I love these history lessions.