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South Korea Unveils Three Mega-Projects in Chips, AI Data Centres, Robotics

June 28, 2026 at 23:41 EDT

Infra & Chips
Robotics
Policy & Regulation

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on June 29, 2026 announced a set of "mega-projects" spanning semiconductors, AI data centres and physical AI (robotics), backed by roughly 1,000 trillion won (about $649-651 billion) in public-private investment. The plan has the government underwrite massive spending by chaebol such as Samsung and SK Group, positioning it as a pillar of a "national leap" aimed at dispersing an industrial base long concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area. South Korean president to drive massive AI, chip investment

June 29, 2026 · National Industrial Strategy

South Korea Bets ₩1,000 Trillion on the AI Era

A roughly $650bn public–private "mega-project" drive would weld chips, AI data centres and robotics into one vertically integrated chain — positioning the nation as an industrial base for the physical-AI age.

₩1,000T

≈ $650bn total program scale

5 × 1GW

1GW-class AI data centres nationwide

1,012

robots per 10,000 workers — world's highest density

Two corporate commitments behind the plan

Pledged investment, drawn to scale (USD)

$648bn

Samsung
10-yr AI / battery / display

$6.1bn

Hyundai Motor Group
robotics + AI centres

Samsung's commitment alone roughly matches the full national program scale.

One vertically integrated chain

Semiconductors

New SW cluster in Honam (Gwangju); Samsung / SK Hynix fabs

→

AI Data Centres

Five 1GW sites; Hyundai ~50,000 GPUs for ₩5.8T

→

Robotics / Physical AI

HD Hyundai Robotics; built on world-leading robot density

Backed by energy & water operators (KEPCO, K-water) under state leadership — rivalling the US CHIPS Act and China's policies.

Supporters say

Connecting chips, AI infrastructure and robotics is a real step toward the physical-AI era — with NVIDIA already advancing Korea's ecosystem via NAVER, SK and Hyundai.

Critics warn

Securing power, water, talent and execution is unproven; AI energy demand is a global concern — and siting in the president's Honam base raises the charge that "chip ecosystems should follow power and talent, not political maps."

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