António Costa shared his ambitions at the end of a visit to one of the factories of the South Korean multinational SK Hynix, a company that occupies the third position in the world ranking of semiconductor producers.

The factory visited by António Costa, about 60 kilometres from Seoul, represented, according to data from the South Korean company SK Hynix, an investment of around €100 billion and has vast areas of completely automated production.

With the ministers of Economy, António Costa Silva, of Science and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato, and of Infrastructures, João Galamba, at his side, the leader of the Portuguese executive once again advocated the need for Portugal to accompany the global movement to reorganise supply chains in view of the current situation of instability in the international economy.

"There is a need to diversify the production chains of some essential goods and semiconductors are fundamental for everything today".

For this reason, according to the prime minister, Portugal has sought to "maintain a dialogue with the SK group, with a view to attracting European semiconductor production to the country".

"In this concept of strategic autonomy that has been developing in Europe, Portugal has had a very clear position on the meaning of this concept. Strategic autonomy means not being dependent on others, but it does not mean closing in on ourselves. We want to attract direct foreign investment, namely South Korean, to produce in Europe what Europe needs", he stressed.

Regarding the SK group, António Costa said that there are ongoing contacts, stating that Portugal has, in the area of semiconductors, "very qualified human resources" for design and already has "the largest European factory" to make the final packaging of the chips.

"This company has a strong connection to Korea and, now, SK is studying investment points outside its traditional locations. This group, in addition to production in Korea, also has a presence in China and would like to diversify its production sites. For us, it is an opportunity that we must try to seize", he defended.