South Korea has unveiled one of the most ambitious semiconductor and artificial intelligence infrastructure expansion plans in global history. Semiconductor powerhouses Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have announced a massive joint domestic investment plan totaling four thousand seven hundred fifty-five trillion Korean won, approximately equivalent to five hundred six trillion Japanese yen. This historic initiative aims to establish a world-leading semiconductor production hub and an advanced physical AI ecosystem across the nation.
A central pillar of this mega-strategy is a dedicated eight hundred trillion won investment focused on South Korea's western Honam region, including Gwangju. The two semiconductor leaders will construct four brand-new memory fabrication facilities to meet surging global demand for next-generation computing architecture. Samsung Electronics will direct two thousand six hundred fifty-five trillion won into its national manufacturing network, spanning the Pyeongtaek and Yongin clusters, the new Honam cluster, high-bandwidth memory advanced packaging facilities, and physical AI robotics development.
Simultaneously, SK Hynix will invest two thousand one hundred trillion won, focusing on memory fabrication expansion in Honam and Yongin, alongside an ambitious roadmap to construct up to fifteen gigawatts of AI data center capacity nationwide by 2035. This includes partnering on national AI data center projects powered by renewable energy in Haenam.
The South Korean government has set a firm completion target of June 2030 for the primary Honam cluster. Beyond the capital region, total regional industrial investments across Honam, Chungcheong, and Yeongnam are projected to reach approximately one thousand six hundred trillion won. As global technological competition shifts from simple chip fabrication to comprehensive AI infrastructure, this initiative firmly positions South Korea as a pivotal hub for next-generation hardware and trust-based computing networks.
