Tag: SK

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung met with leaders of major South Korean businesses earlier today, after which industry giants including Samsung, Hyundai Motor Group, and SK Group jointly announced a new large-scale domestic investment plan. This move is clearly intended to balance the $3500 billion investment commitment made under the previous US-South Korea trade agreement, thereby alleviating concerns that companies would prioritize the US and crowd out domestic investment. Samsung's $3100 billion expansion of its Pyeongtaek plant and increased investment in AI data centers are among the largest of the commitments. Samsung announced it will invest 450 trillion won (approximately $3100 billion) in South Korea over the next five years to expand its domestic operations. At the heart of this plan is the expansion of a new memory chip production line at its Pyeongtaek manufacturing center to address the surge in global semiconductor demand driven by AI, with operations expected to begin in 2028. In addition, Samsung plans to build new AI data centers in South Jeolla Province in the southwest and Gumi City in the southeast, in response to the government's policy of narrowing the development gap between the Seoul metropolitan area and other regions. Meanwhile, Hyundai and SK are ramping up their AI, robotics, and R&D investments. Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea's largest automaker, has pledged to invest 125 trillion won (approximately US$863 billion) in South Korea between 2026 and 2030 to expand R&D and advance new technologies such as AI, robotics, and autonomous driving. Semiconductor giant SK Group plans to invest at least 128 trillion won (approximately US$883 billion) in South Korea by 2028, also focusing on AI. Other shipbuilders, such as Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai, have also announced increased domestic investments...

At the APEC CEO Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang announced a new and deeper partnership with the South Korean government and several industry giants to expand South Korea's AI infrastructure. This massive project is expected to deploy up to 26 NVIDIA GPUs to South Korea's Sovereign Cloud and AI factories, comprehensively boosting AI innovation, industrial development, and employment opportunities in South Korea. In his keynote speech, Huang emphasized that countries worldwide are adopting sovereign AI to drive growth and innovation. He stated, "South Korea's leading position in the technology and manufacturing industries places it at the heart of the AI ​​industrial revolution. Just as South Korean factories inspired the world with sophisticated ships, automobiles, and chips, the country can now export intelligent technologies, driving global transformation." South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science, ICT and Information, Bae Kyung-hoon, also stated, "Expanding the national AI infrastructure and collaborating with NVIDIA will further solidify South Korea's advantages, including its manufacturing capabilities." Key partners in this collaboration include: ...