SOUTH KOREA UNVEILS $649BN CHIP AND AI INVESTMENT PLAN

South Korea has announced a comprehensive industrial strategy centred on semiconductor manufacturing and artificial intelligence, according to announcements made on Monday. President Lee Jae Myung framed the initiative as a "great leap forward" organised around three core areas: semiconductors, physical artificial intelligence and data centres. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the world's two largest memory chipmakers, will invest 800 trillion won (approximately $518 billion) alongside suppliers to construct two new chip fabrication sites each in South Korea's southwest region, according to Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan.

The regional governments of Gwangju and South Jeolla province will contribute between 5 trillion and 20 trillion won ($3.2 billion to $13 billion) to support these fabrication projects. An additional 81 trillion won ($52.5 billion) has been earmarked for a chip-packaging cluster in the Chungcheong area near Seoul, Kim said. Investment in artificial intelligence data centres will total 550 trillion won ($356 billion), provided by SK Group, GS Group and Naver, according to Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon.

By 2035, South Korea intends to construct an additional 10-gigawatt artificial intelligence data centre as part of broader infrastructure expansion, Bae announced. Total investment across all artificial intelligence data centre projects is expected to exceed 1,000 trillion won ($648 billion), with cumulative capacity reaching 18.4 gigawatts. Lee characterised the strategy as addressing both global competitiveness in advanced technology and economic development in regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area.