Samsung, SK Plan $1.3 Trillion AI Chip Expansion

South Korea has designated semiconductors and artificial intelligence as national strategic industries as it seeks to maintain its lead amid intensifying global chip competition and rising demand for AI computing power. President Lee Jae-myung has instructed the government to remove bottlenecks involving administrative approvals, electricity and water supplies, ensuring that long-term investments by companies including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix proceed on schedule.

As of July 20, 2026, Lee had ordered officials to accelerate chip and AI projects worth a combined $576 billion, stressing that speed is critical in the industrial race. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plan to invest in new chip production hubs and AI data centers, while the government must complete the necessary power, water and transportation infrastructure in parallel.

South Korea is a global memory-chip powerhouse, with Samsung Electronics and SK hynix leading supplies of DRAM and high-bandwidth memory. Surging demand from AI data centers has made advanced memory central to national competitiveness. The investment is equivalent to about 17% of the global cryptocurrency market’s total value, underscoring the vast amount of capital flowing into AI infrastructure.

On June 29, 2026, the South Korean government unveiled a national semiconductor ecosystem plan under which Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will invest a combined 800 trillion won, or about $518 billion. The companies will build four fabrication plants in the country’s southwest and double DRAM output within five years. The Chungcheong region will focus on packaging, while other regions will expand capacity for components, materials and data centers.