South Korea Invests to Maintain Memory Lead

South Korea will boost funding to maintain its leadership in memory chip manufacturing. The government plans to allocate KRW700 trillion ($475.5 billion) by 2047 to build the world’s largest semiconductor cluster.

The broad initiative includes setting up a 12-inch, 40nm foundry to help fabless chipmakers develop and test chips, with a budget of KRW4.5 trillion, as well as increasing the number of chip factories to 37 from the current 21. The investment will be focused on commercialising neural processing units and advanced packaging technology. The government will expand state funding to ensure the facilities have a sufficient supply of power and water.

President Lee Jae-Myung held meetings with executives from the country’s chipmakers. SK Hynix led the global DRAM market in Q3 with a 33.2% share, marginally ahead of its rival Samsung, which held a 32.6% share, according to data from TrendForce. In September, Lee revealed the five-year National Growth Fund was increased to KRW150 trillion from KRW100 trillion. The investment will be used across the country’s AI, semiconductors, biotechnology, defence, robotics, and green mobility sectors.