South Korea, the country home of the top two makers of memory chips, Samsung and SK Hynix, including the bandwidth memory hardware that powers AI, is set to invest over $7bn in AI by 2027.
According to President Yoon Yeol, investing in AI is an effort to become a global leader in cutting-edge semiconductors.
The semiconductor industry plays an important role in South Korea’s export-driven economy. In a meeting hosted by Yoon and graced by Samsung, SK Hynix, tech giant Naver representative with an AI startup, SAPEON, he told the tech sector executives in a high-powered meeting that his administration wants South Korea to lead the world in AI chips.
In his words, Yoon said, “It is no exaggeration to say that the semiconductor industry’s future depends on AI.” He further stated that “We will invest 9.4tn won ($6.94bn) in the AI and AI semiconductor fields by 2027,” and set up a separate 1.4tn won ($1bn) fund “to help the growth of innovative AI semiconductor companies.”
Semiconductors are vital in the global economy and are utilized in making kitchen appliances, mobile phones, cars and weapons.
Presently, Seoul and Tokyo are motivated by Taiwan’s geopolitical concerns, making them vie with Washington and major European nations to invest in semiconductors to boost domestic chip production.
In a competition to outshine Silicon Valley titan Nvidia in the AI chip market, South Korea aims to go beyond memory chips to conquer the future AI chip market.
In the Tuesday, April 9, 2024 meeting, Yoon said, “The semiconductor competition taking place now is an industrial war and an all-out war between nations.”
Yoon unveiled his administration’s plan to invest $6.6bn in subsidies to Taiwanese giant TSMC to encourage chip firms to manufacture their most advanced products in the United States.
