South Korea Unveils $880 Billion Plan to Dominate Global Chip and AI Markets

South Korea has unveiled a sweeping $880 billion industrial strategy to cement its global dominance in artificial intelligence and semiconductors, anchored by President Lee Jae Myung's pledge to build new chip hubs, AI data centers, and robotics technology. The world's two largest memory chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, will lead the effort by investing $518 billion to construct four new semiconductor fabrication plants in the country's southwest, while other major firms like Naver and the SK Group commit $356 billion to build massive AI data center capacity by 2035. This "triple axis" initiative aims to double South Korea's DRAM production within five years and position the nation as a top-three global power in AI robotics by 2030, directly affecting the global AI supply chain by securing critical infrastructure for companies like Nvidia. The government is also supporting domestic AI chip development with a $9.9 billion 2026 research budget, marking the debut of Korean AI chips and a push to create a "K-NVIDIA" competitor to reduce reliance on foreign technology.