(Bloomberg) -- In three decades at Samsung Electronics Co., Yang Hyang-ja helped shape the 84-year-old conglomerate’s present dominance in global memory chipmaking. Now, she’s taking on a far broader challenge: ensuring Korea remains relevant as the US and China fight over semiconductors.

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Yang, who rose from a researcher’s assistant at the storied company before heading the key memory chip development division, is the lead architect of a nationwide effort to fund and galvanize its domestic chip industry. Her mission is surging in importance as the US, China and Japan pour billions into building up their own chip supply chains, clouding Korea’s future role in semiconductors, she told Bloomberg Television.

It’s a matter of national security, she said, echoing the views of those in Washington and Beijing who’re funneling talent, money and policy support into the development of the slivers of silicon powering future technologies from artificial intelligence and the metaverse to next-generation computing and — notably — military capability.

“We’re in a chip war,” Yang said in a December interview. “Technology supremacy is a way that our country can take the lead in any security-related agenda, such as diplomatic and defense issues, without being swayed by other nations.”

Yang, who leads a 13-member special committee President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ruling party formed this year to brainstorm a solution, has argued that only through strong and direct intervention can Seoul expand its position in the $550 billion global semiconductor industry. She’s one of a growing number of global policy makers who have embraced tech protectionism after pandemic-driven logistics snarls highlighted countries’ dependence on one another for key electronic components. She’s won an ally in Yoon, who has joined Yang’s calls for more policies to help the country’s homegrown chip sector, which includes SK Hynix Inc. as well as Samsung.