South Korea unveils $1T investment plans, including new semiconductor production base

South Korea unveiled investment plans Monday worth more than $1 trillion to support projects including the development of a new semiconductor manufacturing cluster in the southwestern region, Yonhap News reported.

Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan, addressing a national investment briefing chaired by President Lee Jae Myung in Seoul, said the investments, as part of a “three mega projects” initiative, aim to transform the Gwangju and Jeolla regions into the country’s second major semiconductor cluster besides the existing hub in the Seoul metropolitan area.

He said they would be worth 800 trillion won ($517.9 billion).

The three mega projects initiative seeks large-scale investments by chip giants Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., as well as other companies besides the government in semiconductors, physical artificial intelligence (AI) and AI data centers.

Lee urged securing “overwhelming” chip supply capabilities as he unveiled the tripolar mega projects, with hundreds of billions of dollars in semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) investments.

South Korea stands at a “crossroad for a great leap forward in the increasingly competitive” semiconductor and AI markets, said the president.

He encouraged securing “absolute competitiveness in advanced technologies and turning South Korea into an industrial powerhouse in the emerging AI era.”

The government also plans to invest an additional 52.5 billion in the central Chungcheong region to turn it into a key hub for advanced semiconductor packaging, as the southeastern Daegu and North Gyeongsang regions will host innovation hubs for semiconductor materials, components and equipment.

The government aims to invest $356 billion in AI data center capacity of 8.4 gigawatts by 2029 and expand the capacity to 18.4 GW by 2035, bringing total investment to more than 1 quadrillion won nationwide, according to the Korea Herald.

The SK Group has pledged 1.1 quadrillion won ($712 billion) in investments, including about 400 trillion won to develop the Honam region as a next-generation semiconductor manufacturing hub.

The Samsung Group also announced a 2.655 quadrillion won ($1.7 trillion) domestic investment plan, including 625 trillion won in regional investments, of which 425 trillion won will be directed to the Honam region.