There's probably still plenty of hardliners in the South.

You are right, not sure of the downvotes. I cannot think of a single place on Earth where it would be more complicated yet profitable to build a semiconductor fab.

For one, it's Tier E:1 according to BIS which is even lower than China (Tier D). Everything except for humanitarian aid needs a licence. It's also sanctioned by OFAC so US persons or companies cannot assist in any way, and under secondary sanctions too so non-US institutions may be cut off for dealing with North Korea.

However, unlike the other countries on the E list, like Cuba, Iran, or Syria, North Korea is very stable (nuclear weapons), has a dense talent base (nobody allowed to leave), and has the natural resources/industry/foreign customers to make this possible. A fab would enable North Korea to eliminate foreign semiconductors from their missiles which is a big problem for likeminded countries like Russia or Iran that smuggle US/European semiconductors for Shaheds. So there is a clear market.

Makes sense that North Korea opened two fabs last year in secret:

https://www.nknews.org/2025/07/north-korea-now-operating-thr...

Lots of rare earth metals and lots of slave labor

I don't know who is going to want to do tech transfer to North Korea