Anchor: Thursday marks South Korea's eighth Semiconductor Day. The civilian anniversary was declared in 2008 to mark the milestone of exceeding 10 billion dollars in semiconductor exports for the first time on October 29, 1994. Semiconductors continue to be the nation's leading export item.
Our Kim In-kyung has more on the history of chip-making in South Korea.
 
Report: Semiconductors became South Korea's top export item in 1990 and continue to retain that position. Last year, chips accounted for ten-point-nine percent of South Korean exports, while in 2000 they held a record high 15-point-one percent.
 
The history of semiconductors in South Korea goes back to the 1960s when the head of the nation's technology institute introduced the concept.
 
At first, South Korea remained a contract manufacturer, fulfilling orders for assembly, but a joint venture, Korea Semiconductor, laid the foundation for the industry by building the entire wafer manufacturing process in 1974.
 
South Korea's chip-making industry experienced a second leap in 1983 with an announcement by Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul that the company would make massive investments in memory production.
 
That same year, Samsung became the third company in the world to develop 64K dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, reducing South Korea's technology gap with advanced countries from more than ten years to less than four.
 
In 1992, Samsung developed the world's first 64-megabit DRAM and became the world’s largest maker of DRAM. Ten years later, Samsung topped the NAND flash memory market.
 
Samsung Electronics currently has the largest share of the global DRAM market, followed by local competitor SK Hynix.
 
However, analysts warn that South Korea's position at the top of the semiconductor industry may not last as China and Taiwan are fast making inroads.
 
They say that for South Korea to lead the market, it has to raise productivity and develop cutting-edge convergence technologies such as those related to the Internet of Things (IoT).
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.