□ A study on open innovation across regions and countries in the semiconductor industry, conducted by a research team led by Principal Researcher Jinhyo Yoon (Principal Professor of the Open Innovation Academy) at the Division of AI, Big data and Blockchain (ABB), Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology (DGIST; President Kunwoo Lee), has been published in one of the world’s most prestigious journals. This study addresses the impact of digital transformation and decoupling in the global value chain (GVC) on open innovation and business performance in the semiconductor industry.
□ The research team analyzed semiconductor-related patent data registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) from 2004 to 2020. The study examined how decoupling in the GVC affects the semiconductor industry in Korea and worldwide. More specifically, the team conducted an empirical analysis of the changing GVC landscape in Korea and the resulting shifts in the impact of open innovation.
□ The findings showed that as the GVC in the semiconductor industry began to decouple along with digital transformation since the 2010s, the effect of open innovation through cross-border collaboration was no longer statistically significant in Korea. This suggests that decoupling has weakened the positive impact of traditional international collaboration on business performance. More importantly, the benefits of open innovation also diminished in collaboration involving the United States.
□ This is not just a problem for Korea. Given Korea’s significant share in global semiconductor production, the dismantling of the GVC in the semiconductor industry could have negative consequences for the global economy. In other words, the decoupling of the GVC in this sector serves as evidence of the threat it poses not only to Korea’s domestic industry but also to the growth engine of the global economy.
□ The semiconductor industry possesses one of the longest and most complex GVCs in today’s capitalist system and plays a critical role as a key component of various other industries. Therefore, the dismantling of the GVC in this sector should be regarded as a structural crisis for the global capitalist system as a whole, not merely a problem confined to the semiconductor industry.
□ To address this crisis, the research team made two important recommendations: First, Korea’s semiconductor value chain should be reorganized. In addition to geographical clustering, functional clusters and open platforms must be established to lay the foundation for strengthening both domestic and international collaboration. As demonstrated by the TSMC, the establishment of online-based collaborative clusters is crucial to achieving both efficiency and connectivity.
□ Second, completely dismantling the GVC is not a realistic solution. Instead, it is important for China, positioned at both the supply and consumption ends of the semiconductor industry, the United States, which plays a critical role in the middle of the value chain, and Korea, which is closely linked to both countries, to coordinate and collaborate to restore the GVC’s functionality. Specifically, redefining global governance and clarifying the division of roles at the global level could serve as a breakthrough for the currently slowing global economy.
□ “This study demonstrates the real-world impact of decoupling based on semiconductor patent data from the United States and Korea,” said Principal Researcher Jinhyo Yoon at DGIST. “Moreover, this study will serve as an important reference not only for the future of the semiconductor industry but also for designing policies and frameworks for international collaboration.”
□ Meanwhile, the study was published in Science, Technology and Society, one of the world’s most prestigious journals. Principal Researcher Jinhyo Yoon and Dr. Zhao Xiaofei conducted the study in collaboration with Professor Heungju Ahn, Dean of the Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences at DGIST.
