The light and dark side of the Korean industry: Semiconductors are racing through a ‘super cycle’, and shipbuilding and automobiles are at a crossroads between ‘hard work’ and ‘export stagnation’ > berita

The semiconductor industry is truly solidifying its monopoly system. Demand for memory semiconductors is exploding due to the spread of AI technology, and the prevailing rosy outlook is that exports this year will easily exceed $350 billion. On the other hand, the automobile industry, another axis of our exports, is experiencing the double whammy of shrinking global demand and falling export prices, and even the outlook for the second half of the year is bleak.

This temperature difference between industries is also reflected in labor-management relations. As the shipbuilding industry enters the so-called 'super cycle' due to the recovery of the industry, the trend of 'heart-throwing' labor unions demanding a certain percentage of operating profits as performance bonuses is intensifying. In the automobile industry, including Hyundai Motors, a tense tug-of-war between labor and management continues over the profit distribution issue that has been recurring for several years, and the management community is warning that the union's demands may infringe on management judgment as a desperate measure to secure future investment resources.

Meanwhile, the shipbuilding industry is not just obsessed with wage negotiations, but is also putting its life and death into technological innovation for future survival. Led by HD Hyundai, the development of eco-friendly ships using small modular reactors (SMRs) is accelerating, and there is a clear movement to secure super-gap competitiveness through digital transformation, such as the introduction of autonomous navigation solutions. This can be interpreted as a determination to resolve internal issues such as labor-management conflict and at the same time not lose leadership in the global market with eco-friendly and cutting-edge technology.