SEOUL, June 30 — South Korean President Lee Jae-myung unveiled on Monday a massive package of long-term industrial projects that the government has billed as central to the country’s next phase of economic growth, with the heads of Samsung Electronics and SK Group attending the launch event at the presidential residence in Seoul.
The event, titled the “Three Mega Projects for the Great Leap Forward,” took place at 14:00 local time at the Cheong Wa Dae state guest house and was chaired by the president, the presidential office said. Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won were listed among the corporate participants, alongside senior representatives from LG Electronics, HD Hyundai Robotics, Korea Electric Power Corporation and Korea Water Resources Corporation.
South Korean business media reported that combined private and public investment under the framework could reach about 2,000 trillion won (roughly 1.3 trillion US dollars) over the coming decade if all components are implemented in full. Government officials cited in domestic press coverage have not formally confirmed a single headline figure, and policy officials have characterised the projects as a longer-term direction rather than a fixed budget commitment.
According to outlines published by the government, the framework is built on three pillars: an advanced semiconductor manufacturing cluster anchored in the southwestern Jeolla provinces around Gwangju; a wave of artificial-intelligence data centres in Chungcheong and Gangwon provinces; and a “physical AI” push in the southeastern Yeongnam region focused on robotics and smart manufacturing. The plan envisages the new investment as complementary to existing semiconductor clusters in Gyeonggi province.
Reports in the South Korean press indicated that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are each weighing new front-end wafer fabrication plants in the Gwangju area, with the two companies between them potentially adding several advanced fabs over the coming years. Industry estimates cited by local outlets put the cost of a single leading-edge fab at tens of trillions of won. Samsung is also reported to be planning an advanced packaging facility in South Chungcheong province, while SK hynix is expected to expand its NAND flash memory operations in North Chungcheong province.
The plan was developed under the coordination of the presidential policy office led by Kim Yong-beom, with input from the ministries of trade, industry and energy; science and ICT; environment; and land, infrastructure and transport, officials said. Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a regular briefing last week that the framework was the result of “intensive consultation” with industry and would be presented to the public alongside corporate leaders.
The announcement comes against a backdrop of fierce global competition in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, with the United States, the European Union, Japan and China all rolling out their own industrial-policy packages aimed at chips and AI infrastructure. South Korea’s economy is heavily exposed to chip exports, with memory and logic chips accounting for a sizeable share of the country’s outbound shipments, according to official trade data.
Samsung Electronics reported a sharp jump in operating profit for the first quarter of 2026 from a year earlier, helped by stronger memory chip prices and demand linked to artificial-intelligence servers, according to the company’s regulatory filings. SK hynix, the country’s other major memory-chip maker and a leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators, has also reported a recovery in earnings over recent quarters.
Not all reaction has been supportive. Opposition lawmakers from the conservative People Power Party have questioned whether the government can deliver the headline figures without imposing fresh burdens on taxpayers or on smaller firms in the supply chain, according to comments carried in domestic newspapers. Analysts at South Korean think tanks have also flagged practical constraints, including limits on grid capacity for the proposed data centres and water supply for new chip fabs, both of which are highly resource-intensive. Energy policy experts have previously warned that South Korea will need to expand transmission infrastructure significantly to meet rising electricity demand from AI workloads.
Industry executives, while welcoming public-sector backing, have pointed out that final investment decisions remain subject to global demand, technology road maps and approvals in major export markets. A senior official at a South Korean industry association was quoted in local media as saying that companies would commit capital only where long-term returns justify it, adding that consistent regulation and predictable land-use approvals would matter as much as any headline subsidy figure.
The presidential office said the Monday event would be followed by sector-by-sector implementation plans to be released by individual ministries over the coming weeks. The government has signalled that legislation supporting the framework, including possible amendments to existing chip and AI laws, would be submitted to the National Assembly in the second half of the year.
