According to reports from the American Consumer News and Business Channel website, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol announced during a high-level meeting attended by officials and industry executives on April 9th that South Korea will invest nearly $7 billion in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) by 2027. Additionally, there are plans to establish a separate $1 billion fund to nurture AI semiconductor companies, thereby enhancing the semiconductor supply chain.
With the success of ChatGPT and other generative AI products, the global demand for advanced high-bandwidth storage chips that power AI systems is growing rapidly. These chips enable generative AI models to remember details such as past conversations and user preferences, thus generating responses similar to humans.
Currently, the AI chip market is dominated by Silicon Valley giant NVIDIA. South Korea is home to two storage chip giants, Samsung and SK Hynix. Yoon Suk-yeol stated that South Korea's goal is to "surpass storage chips and become a leader in AI technology, leading the future chip market."
The semiconductor industry is a key pillar of South Korea's export-driven economy. Data from the South Korean Ministry of Trade shows that in March, South Korea's semiconductor exports reached $11.7 billion, accounting for one-fifth of the total exports.
