South Korea launches $584B chip manufacturing initiative with Samsung, SK hynix
The South Korean government today announced a 900 trillion won, or $584 billion, initiative to grow the country’s chip manufacturing capacity.
Officials also plan to build about $357 billion worth of artificial intelligence data centers.
The chip manufacturing initiative will be led by Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., which intend to open two new fabs apiece. Most of South Korea’s semiconductor production infrastructure is located near Seoul. By contrast, the new Samsung and SK hynix facilities are set to be built in South Korea’s southwestern region.
Samsung executives indicated that the company will likely construct its fabs in the southwestern city of Gwangju, which is about a four-hour drive from Seoul. SK hynix, for its part, is still in the process of finding a fab suite. Chey Tae-won, the company’s chair, stated today that building its current flagship manufacturing campus took nine years.
