In this blog post, we’ll explore how semiconductors have driven South Korea’s IT development and transformed our lives at an unprecedented pace.
Korea and IT: The Background of Rapid Change
When foreigners think of Korea, they often cite “kimchi” and “IT” as the first images that come to mind. While Korean kimchi has a distinct flavor all its own, it is an intriguing question how IT has become such a representative image of Korea. It is said that one of the first things that shocks foreigners upon arriving at Incheon International Airport is the sight of even young children carrying cell phones and naturally sending texts and making calls.
How did South Korea, a country with a very low per capita income as recently as the 1960s, manage to leap forward in just 50 years to become an IT powerhouse with a per capita income of $20,000? The development of the IT industry played a major role in this rapid economic growth achieved in such a short period. In particular, the semiconductor industry—often referred to as the “rice of industry”—has developed more rapidly than any other sector over the past few decades, serving as the core driving force behind South Korea’s rise as an IT powerhouse.
Semiconductors and Transistors: The “Brain Cells” of Electronic Devices
A semiconductor is a material that acts as either a conductor or an insulator depending on the situation. The most representative device of this type is the transistor. Like a switch, a transistor allows current to flow (conductor) when a specific voltage is applied and prevents current flow (insulator) when no voltage is present. Because of this property, transistors play a vital role in electronic circuits.
If we compare a transistor to a human, it is like a brain cell. Just as the brain is responsible for thought and judgment, electronic devices have a central hub called a “chip.” If you look inside a computer, cell phone, or television, you will see several chips among the complex circuits, and within those chips are countless transistors. Just as different parts of the brain handle various functions—such as language, judgment, emotions, and motor skills—these transistors work together to perform various computations.
The Technology of Integration: Making Things Smaller to Pack in More
The higher the performance of an electronic device, the more transistors it requires. Just as humans are capable of higher-order thinking than other animals because their brain cells are numerous and intricately connected, the more powerful a computer is, the greater the number of transistors and the more complex their arrangement. The performance of electronic devices ultimately depends largely on how quickly the chip (transistors) performs calculations and how little energy it consumes.
Just as brain cells have a fixed size, if transistors also have a fixed size, the chip itself must grow larger to accommodate a large number of them. However, since larger chips are not beneficial for consumer devices, people began making transistors “smaller” to fit more of them within a limited space. This process is at the core of semiconductor manufacturing technology.
As transistors shrink in size, more devices can be integrated into the same area; in the case of memory systems in particular, even small changes in size can dramatically improve system performance. As transistor lengths decrease, speeds increase significantly. In recent semiconductor processes, transistor lengths have become shorter than the wavelength of visible light, making them invisible to standard optical microscopes. These are so small—just a few thousandths the width of a human hair—that they can only be observed with an electron microscope.
Achievements and the Future: System-on-Chip and Changes in Our Lives
The reason for the rapid development of the Korean semiconductor industry is that companies have devoted all their efforts to improving this level of integration.
As a result, hardware chips with world-class integration levels have been created, contributing not only to Korea’s remarkable economic growth but also to the advancement of information and communication technology worldwide.
In the past, a hard drive capacity of a few gigabytes was considered large, and even a single MP3 song took up little space; however, thanks to circuit integration and increased speed, terabyte-scale storage devices are now commonly available. As circuit integration progressed in this way, devices such as laptops, HD TVs, and smartphones naturally emerged. It can be said that the number of “brain cells” (transistors) in the electronic devices we use in our daily lives today averages trillions per person.
The pace of semiconductor development is exceptionally rapid, even when compared to other technologies. It is often said that, compared to 1948 when the transistor was invented, the advancement of semiconductor technology has been so rapid as to be beyond imagination. A field developing this rapidly presents boundless possibilities for the kind of world it will create in the future.
One area receiving particular attention for the future is System-on-Chip (SoC). This technology integrates various functions—such as memory, graphics, and networking—onto a single chip, enabling the integration of more features into a smaller form factor. Just as smartphones have combined the functions of a phone and a computer into one device, the development of SoC will drive the miniaturization and performance enhancement of all electronic devices.
If System-on-Chip continues to advance at its current pace, electronic devices will become even smaller, and their performance could improve hundreds of times over. We will enter an era where computers are miniaturized like smartphones, allowing us to work on the go, and handling business tasks in the mountains or on the beach will become a reality. In addition, countless IT changes that are currently hard to imagine will continue to unfold. The IT industry, driven by semiconductor engineering, will continue to play a central role in our rapidly changing lives.
