On Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced a $6.94 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) by 2027 to strengthen the country’s semiconductor industry. This initiative includes a $1.4 trillion fund to support AI semiconductor firms.
South Korea aims to compete with global leaders like the United States, China, and Japan in semiconductor technology. Semiconductors are crucial to South Korea’s export-driven economy, with chip exports hitting a 21-month high in March at $11.7 billion.
Yoon emphasised the fierce global competition in semiconductor production, calling it an “industrial war” between nations. The investment aims to boost research and development in AI chips, focusing on neural processing units and high-bandwidth memory chips.
The nation also plans to advance next-generation artificial general intelligence and safety technologies. Yoon aims for South Korea to rank among the top three countries in AI technology and capture over 10% of the global system semiconductor market by 2030. He expressed confidence in South Korea’s ability to lead in AI chips, likening it to its dominance in memory chips over the past 30 years.
