South Korea to invest $576 billion in AI chip production with Samsung and SK Hynix | CNN Business

South Korea rolled out sweeping chip and AI mega-projects on Monday, as President Lee Jae Myung pledged to cement overwhelming industry leadership with investments worth more than $576 billion over several years. The announcement ⁠marks Lee’s boldest push yet to align South Korea’s AI and chip ambitions with his pledge to narrow regional disparities and revive economies beyond the Seoul metropolitan area. Lee was joined by the leaders of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the world’s two largest memory chipmakers, for the televised announcement. “We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country,” the president said. “Semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centres are the triple axis for ⁠our great leap forward.” Samsung and SK Hynix will invest 800 trillion won ($517.87 billion) ​with ⁠suppliers to build two new chip fabrication sites each in South Korea’s southwest region, he said. Lee said the country’s southwestern city of Gwangju and South Jeolla province will also invest 5-20 trillion won in the projects, with a ⁠further 81 trillion won expected for a chip packaging cluster in the Chungcheong area near Seoul. Lee said the southw