South Korean government to provide chip IP at lower rate

The South Korean government has kicked off a program to offer semiconductor IP at discounted price to fabless companies.

The Ministry of Trade. Industry and Energy said the program, called semiconductor IP usage support program, will give global semiconductor IP at discounted prices, build a semiconductor IP platform and offer use of local semiconductor IP.

US semiconductor IP company Synopsys will provide its IP through a design support center run by the government. The center will provide an additional 10% discount.

South Korean fabless companies can use Synopsys’ IP at a discount through the center.

A South Korean design house with dealings with Arm will also provide free consulting to local fabless companies on how to use Arm semiconductor IP. This will be done online. The hope is this will reduce the downtime in chip development for local fabless companies.

Locally produced semiconductor IP will also be sold at up to 50% discount.

The program will have its trial run this year before going fully live next year. The budget will grow for the program next year, the ministry said.