South Korea is about to place what might be the largest single-country bet on AI infrastructure the world has ever seen. President Lee Jae-myung is set to announce three major national projects on June 29 targeting semiconductors, AI data centers, and physical AI, including robotics, in a move designed to convert surging global chip demand into domestic economic growth.
The centerpiece: Samsung Group is expected to unveil a 10-year investment plan that could reach 1,000 trillion won, roughly $648 billion. Of that total, 300 trillion won could be earmarked specifically for new semiconductor manufacturing facilities in South Korea’s southwestern region.
What’s actually in the package
The initiative spans three distinct but interconnected pillars. First, a semiconductor hub buildout focused on expanding fabrication capacity. Second, a push to construct AI data center infrastructure capable of handling the compute demands that come with training and deploying large-scale models. Third, investment in physical AI, a category that encompasses robotics and other hardware-software hybrid systems.
Samsung isn’t going it alone. SK Hynix, the world’s dominant maker of high-bandwidth memory chips essential for AI workloads, is also expected to participate actively. Top executives from both companies will reportedly join President Lee at the announcement event.
