South Korea just placed the biggest bet in semiconductor history. President Lee Jae Myung unveiled an 800 trillion won investment plan, roughly $520 billion, to build four new chip fabrication plants and establish the country as the undisputed heavyweight of AI chip manufacturing.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will each develop two of the four facilities in southwestern South Korea. The project is part of what the government is calling its “three mega-projects,” an initiative designed to revitalize regional economies while locking in Korea’s dominance over the chips that power artificial intelligence.
The full scope of the plan
The fab construction is only part of the story. A separate 550 trillion won investment will fund the development of three AI data centers, with companies including SK, GS, and Naver participating in the effort. The target is an initial capacity of 8.4 GW.
Beyond the headline numbers, the plan channels significant funding toward high-bandwidth memory production, next-generation memory technologies, edge AI chips, advanced defense semiconductors, and robotics. South Korea is also targeting production of over 1,000 AI robots annually as part of the broader technology buildout.
