Trade, industry and energy minister Ahn Duk-geun has met with executives of the nation’s top semiconductor companies to discuss responses to changes in the global chip market.

According to the industry ministry, Ahn on Monday met with officials from global chip producers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as well as producers of materials, parts and equipment for chip manufacturers.

In the meeting on Monday, the government decided to set up a hotline between the minister and each of the companies' CEOs. 

The meeting also checked measures to follow up on the recently announced government plan to establish a semiconductor mega cluster in southern Seoul by 2047. 

The ministry plans to spend 24 trillion won to foster talents in the sector of materials, parts and equipment for chip manufacturing and to pursue a test bed for their mass production.

These moves come as the United States, Japan and other major countries have recently strengthened support for their respective semiconductor industries.