South Korea revealed three mega projects targeting global leadership in semiconductors, AI data centers, and physical AI on June 29, with President Lee Jae Myung calling it a "great leap forward" centered on these "triple axis" pillars [1, 2, 3, 4].
The government and corporate investments focus heavily on chip fabrication plants in the southwestern provinces, including Gwangju and South Jeolla. Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will invest about 800 trillion won ($518 billion) with suppliers to build two new chip fabs each in this region [3, 4]. This is part of a broader strategy to address regional economic disparities by developing the semiconductor cluster outside the Seoul metropolitan area [1, 5, 3, 4].
South Korea aims to double its DRAM memory chip production capacity within five years as part of the push [2, 6]. In addition to the southwestern projects, an 81 trillion won ($52.5 billion) investment will create a chip-packaging cluster near Seoul [1, 3]. Total investment in the southern region projects is projected at 520 trillion won ($337 billion) [1, 3].
President Lee stated, "We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country," adding that the focus on "semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centers are the triple axis for our great leap forward" [1].
The government also plans a major AI data center build-out supported by the SK Group, GS Group, and Naver, with total investment expected to exceed 1,000 trillion won ($648 billion) by 2035. Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said the facility will add 10 gigawatts of AI capability, surpassing 18.4 gigawatts of power with the overall investment [3].
Hyundai Motor Company is participating by working to mass-produce humanoid robots through its Boston Dynamics subsidiary, part of the government-backed AI initiatives [2].
Shares of top chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics have surged 307% and 179% respectively so far this year, reflecting strong demand driven by AI [6]. However, opposition parties criticize the choice to place semiconductor investments in the Honam region, alleging political motives over industrial logic [3].
Some sources differ on exact investment totals. While government and corporate commitments range from around $518 billion to over $1 trillion, a third source claims Samsung and SK Hynix alone have pledged 3,200 trillion won ($2.07 trillion) including existing projects [1, 2, 3, 6, 4].
The next major milestone is the phased construction and operation of the new semiconductor plants and AI data centers over the coming decade, aiming for full capacity by 2035 [3].
