South Korea announces major project plans for chips and AI data centers

Odaily Odaily reported on Monday that the South Korean government announced major project plans in the areas of chips, physical AI, and AI data centers. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung stated that it is necessary to secure the development of AI elements faster than other countries, and chip production construction must be completed as soon as possible. Current factory sites are nearing their limits in terms of water resources and other infrastructure. The southwestern region will see investments of 5 trillion to 20 trillion Korean won in new projects, while Gwangju and Jeolla may see investments of 520 trillion Korean won in these projects.

Regarding detailed planning for factory construction, the South Korean government announced plans to build four chip factories in the southwestern region, with an investment of approximately 800 trillion Korean won; Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will each build two new factories. Investment in the chip sector over the next 15 years is expected to reach at least 30 trillion Korean won, covering areas such as next-generation memory, edge AI, and defense. Investment in the chip packaging cluster in the Chungcheong region is expected to reach 81 trillion Korean won. Approximately 550 trillion Korean won is expected to be invested in building AI data centers.

The South Korean government expects to double DRAM production capacity within five years and forecasts that the global memory market will quadruple in size within the same period. South Korea also stated that it seeks to distribute the growth dividends to the public. (Jin Shi)