Here is a trending story you shouldn’t miss.
This article covers the latest updates on South Korea unveils $1tn chip and AI investment plan.
Brought to you by our news desk, this report covers the ground reality.
Dive into the detailed report.
South Korea has unveiled plans for at least $880bn (£666bn) of investments to build out the country’s chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in the coming years.
It is part of the country’s so-called Three Mega Projects to develop new chip production hubs, data centres and robotics technology.
The plan is aimed at rejuvenating the economies of areas outside the capital Seoul, President Lee Jae-myung statedon Monday.
It comes as regional rivals like Taiwan, China and Japan are investing heavily in chip factories and other technologies as the AI boom pushes up demand for semiconductors.
“We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country,” Lee said. “Semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centres are the triple axis for a great leap forward.”
Lee announced the plans in a televised event alongside the leaders of Samsung and SK Hynix, the country’s two largest chipmakers.
Lee also announced plans to build other AI infrastructure hubs outside of Seoul, where most of the country’s advanced factories are currently concentrated.
Earlier, Lee statedin a statement that the project was a matter of “survival” for the country to address the decline in rural areas due to the concentration of industries in Seoul.
“Now, we must break this long-standing cycle of discrimination and marginalisation – not only for the sake of justice and equity, but also to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth,” he wrote.
Samsung and SK Group, which count the likes of AI chip giant Nvidia among their customers, have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of the surge in spending on AI infrastructure.
US tech giants – including Google, Amazon and Meta – statedthey will spend $650bn into the technology this year.
SK Hynix’s stock industryvaluation topped $1tn in May, driven by the boom in AI data centres.
The surge in demand for chips to power AI has led to a worldwideshortage of semiconductors, sending rateshigher.
Last week, Apple and Microsoft raised the ratesof some of their devices, due to higher costs of components.
But some investors have raised concerns about the huge amounts of fundsbeing poured into AI, which has triggered some stocksto slide in recent days.
Disclaimer: This content is automatically syndicated from external news feeds for informational purposes.
The views held in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.