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President Roh Moo-hyun in attendance at a software expo in Korea.
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Installation of crucial technological components a current boom
U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin has asked 8 billion won (US$9 million) per plane from the South Korean Air Force to upgrade existing F-16 fighter jets, or 6 billion won for software and 2 billion won for hardware. The Korean Air Force was slated to upgrade about 140 of its existing F-16 jets, placing the total cost at more than 1 trillion won. Last year, U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin reportedly sold F-16 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates for around 80 million won per unit. Previously, an F-16 garnered a price of around 30- 35 billion won. But Lockheed Martin doubled the price of an F-16 by installing new combat software and additional equipment. Embedded software is drawing attention from technology companies as a new goldmine. Software is generally divided into either operating system software or application software. However, the operating system software market is dominated by Microsoft, and the market for application software is fragmented amid fierce competition. But the market for embedded software is different. Combined with electronics, customized software is essential for certain machines to properly operate. Statistics showed that 52.4 percent of total spending for development of a new car is used for embedded software. And, 51.4 percent of total costs for development of a new fighter jet are used for embedded software. The F-35 fighter jet, which is set to begin mass production, will cost about 50 billion won per unit; 45 percent of the price is for embedded software.Yang Sang-u, a senior researcher at Korea Aerospace Industry, said, "In the aerospace industry, hardware-manufacturing technology has already been equalized. Now, it is time to focus on developing embedded software." The global market for embedded software is estimated at US$114.7 billion last year, including $28.3 billion in the consumer electronics market, $25.1 billion in aerospace, and $17.7 billion in the automobile market. In South Korea, the total embedded software market was worth $8.4 billion last year. South Korea is still at an early stage in developing its embedded software sector. In space technology, South Korea can domestically produce an engine or a body frame. However, South Korea still must fully relied upon the U.S. for software related to aerospace technology. Hyundai Motor Co. mostly buys its in-vehicle embedded software from Germany. Recently, the Ministry of Information and Communication said it will spend 50 billion won to promote the embedded software industry in South Korea. The ministry also announced two trial projects to develop embedded software for a T-50 airplane and a large-scale Internet server for next-generation video services. Lee Sang-hun, a senior ministry official, said, "Eventually, the era of competition will come to two factors - design, and embedded software." Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
