South Korea unveils US$650 billion megaprojects to dominate global AI, chip market

South Korea rolled out sweeping chip and AI megaprojects on Monday, as President Lee Jae Myung pledged to cement overwhelming industry leadership with investments worth more than US$576 billion 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.

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.”

Samsung and SK Hynix will invest 800 trillion won (US$518 billion) with suppliers to build two new chip fabrication sites each in South Korea’s southwest region, he said.