Gyeonggi Province Governor Dong Yeon Kim will visit Europe, including Austria and the Netherlands, after the US to strengthen global cooperation in the semiconductor industry and continue his sales tour to attract investment in cutting-edge industries.

Gyeonggi Province announced on October 25 that a delegation from the province, led by Governor Kim, will visit Austria and the Netherlands, located in central Europe, from October 27 to November 2 to build a bridge for the expansion of Gyeonggi Province companies into Europe.

Governor Kim visited the eastern U.S., including New York City, for five days and seven nights from October 15 to 21 to build partnerships with New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, and to attract a total of KRW 2.1 trillion in investment.

In the Netherlands, he will first visit the headquarters of ASM and ASML, two of the world’s leading semiconductor equipment companies, to discuss investment cooperation.

Founded in 1968, ASM is a global semiconductor equipment company with annual sales of KRW 3.8 trillion. It is a market leader in atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology, which is essential for semiconductor production.

Founded in 1984, ASML is the world’s leading supplier of semiconductor equipment for lithography, a key process in semiconductor manufacturing, with annual sales of EUR 27.6 billion (KRW 40 trillion in 2023). It is the only company capable of producing equipment for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography (the process of forming circuit patterns on silicon wafers), which is essential for advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

Global cooperation in high-tech industries will also be strengthened. Governor Kim will meet the Minister of Labor and Economic Affairs of Austria, a ‘powerhouse of small and medium-sized enterprises,’ to expand economic and industrial cooperation, and sign a new friendship agreement with the Dutch province of North Brabant, a high-tech industrial center.

He will also be a keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of the 28th World Korean Economic Congress, which will be attended by some 3,000 businesspeople from around the world, and is expected to play a leading role in helping Gyeonggi Province companies expand into Europe, centered around the Gyeonggi Pavilion at the event venue.

“In Austria, which is located in the center of Europe, we will meet with local political and business figures and take on problem-solving roles for Gyeonggi Province companies expanding into Europe. In the Netherlands, we will not only strengthen international exchanges but also actively discuss investment cooperation with high-tech semiconductor equipment companies,” said a Gyeonggi Province official. “We will continue to achieve significant results after our trip to the U.S.”