(4th LD) Lee vows to secure chip, AI supremacy through large-scale investment

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(ATTN: UPDATES with parties' responses in last 6 paras) By Park Boram

SEOUL, June 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea stands at a crossroad for a great leap forward in the increasingly competitive semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors, President Lee Jae Myung stressed Monday in an event to unveil massive investment projects, including an unprecedented 800 trillion-won (US$519 billion) investment plan by the country's two largest chipmakers.

The massive investment plans by Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Group, the parent group of SK hynix Inc., among others, come under so-called tripolar mega projects aimed at securing what the president has called "absolute competitiveness" in advanced technologies and turning South Korea into an industrial powerhouse in the emerging AI era.

The possibly single-largest investment project to date will focus on three main areas: semiconductor, physical AI and AI data centers, which the president called major pillars in ensuring the country's "great leap forward" in building an industrial powerhouse with unbridgeable supremacy.

"To meet the explosively increasing demand for semiconductors, production bases currently under construction should be completed promptly ... while overwhelming supply capabilities should be secured preemptively through large-scale investment in the southwest region," he told an event at the presidential office to announce details of the investment project.

Existing semiconductor facilities in Yongin and Pyeongtaek, both in the greater capital region, are reaching their limits in capacity, Lee noted, stressing the need to promptly create a new production cluster in the country's southwest region to preemptively secure chip supply capabilities.

A new semiconductor cluster is currently under construction in Yongin, while the latest government-led projects seek to launch an additional cluster in the southwestern Honam region, home to Lee's ruling Democratic Party (DP).

President Lee Jae Myung (C) salutes the national flag, alongside Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-young (R) and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, during a briefing to announce large-scale investment in semiconductor production and artificial intelligence in Seoul on June 29, 2026. (Pool Photo) (Yonhap)

The president also stressed the importance of establishing AI data centers across the country, highlighting the need to facilitate a "virtuous circle" in which data collected by physical AI flows back to data centers to enable indu