South Korea unveils $880bn chip and AI investment plan
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South Korea unveils $880bn chip and AI investment plan
South Korea announces more than $1 trillion AI, chip investment drive
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Image source, Bloomberg via Getty ImagesByOsmond ChiaBusiness reporterPublished29 June 2026, 07:46 BSTUpdated 13 minutes agoSouth Korea has unveiled plans for at least $880bn (£666bn) of investments to build out the country's chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in the coming years.
It is part of the country's so-called Three Mega Projects to develop new chip production hubs, data centres and robotics technology. The plan is aimed at rejuvenating the economies of areas outside the capital Seoul, President Lee Jae-myung said on Monday. It comes as regional rivals like Taiwan, China and Japan are investing heavily in chip factories and other technologies as the AI boom pushes up demand for semiconductors.
"We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country," Lee said. "Semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centres are the triple axis for a great leap forward." Lee announced the plans in a televised event alongside the leaders of Samsung and SK Hynix, the country's two largest chipmakers. Lee also announced plans to build other AI infrastructure hubs outside of Seoul, where most of the country's advanced factories are currently concentrated.
Earlier, Lee said in a statement that the project was a matter of "survival" for the country to address the decline in rural areas due to the concentration of industries in Seoul. "Now, we must break this long-standing cycle of discrimination and marginalisation - not only for the sake of justice and equity, but also to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth," he wrote.
How 🌍 Al Jazeera Covers It
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoBy Al Jazeera Staff and ReutersPublished On 29 Jun 202629 Jun 2026South Korea has laid out a sweeping industrial strategy focused on semiconductor chips and artificial intelligence projects as President Lee Jae Myung pledges to cement overwhelming industry leadership with investments of hundreds of billions of dollars over several years. Flanked by the heads of the world’s two biggest memory chipmakers, Lee cast the initiative on Monday as a “great leap forward” centred on the “triple axis” of semiconductors, physical AI and data centres. “We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country,” the president said in a televised address.
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