South Korea unveils massive AI and chip investment drive
The announcement marks Lee's boldest push yet to align South Korea's AI and chip ambitions with his pledge to narrow regional disparities and revive economies beyond the Seoul metropolitan area
Highlights:
- President Lee says projects to secure overwhelming industrial strength
- Investments could exceed $650 billion, media say
- Expected southwest chip hub plan aims to ease Seoul-area concentration
- Leaders of the world's two largest memory chip makers join announcement
- Critics question infrastructure, skilled labour and political motives behind the plan
South Korea rolled out sweeping chip and AI mega-projects on Monday, as President Lee Jae Myung pledged to cement overwhelming industry leadership with investments spanning hundreds of billions of dollars over several years.
The announcement marks Lee's boldest push yet to align South Korea's AI and chip ambitions with his pledge to narrow regional disparities and revive economies beyond the Seoul metropolitan area.
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Lee was joined by the leaders of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the world's two largest memory chipmakers, for the televised announcement.
"We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country," the president said. "Semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centres are the triple axis for our great leap forward."
The projects are expected to attract investments, including by Samsung and SK, over the next several years. Lee said the country's southwestern city of Gwangju and South Jeolla province will also invest 520 trillion won ($336.70 billion) in the projects.
As part of the overall initiative, the southwest would be home to new massive chip production clusters, Lee said, in part to utilise the rich power resources that remain untapped there.
Local media have reported the planned investments could exceed 1,000 trillion won ($651.41 billion) over coming years.
