# South Korea Commits $880 Billion to AI, Chip Infrastructure Over Decade

> South Korea has laid out one of the largest national bets on AI hardware yet, a coordinated 1.35 trillion won package, roughly $880 billion, to be spent over the next decade with the government acting as orchestrator rather than sole funder. The goal is to lock up an early lead in the physical layer of AI: chips, data centers, and robotics. Much of the money comes from the private sector. Samsung and SK Group are putting a combined $518 billion into four new chip fabs in the country's southwest, focused on the high-bandwidth memory that AI accelerators depend on, while Naver and others fund 8.4 gigawatts of new data-center capacity by 2029. The plan reflects a broader shift in how the AI race is being fought. As models commoditize, governments are competing over who controls the fabs, memory, and power that everything else runs on, and Korea is trying to turn its existing chip strength into durable leverage.

_Section: [Daily AI Updates](https://www.wortins.com/daily-ai) · Source: GuruFocus · Published Wednesday, July 22, 2026_

## Wortins' read

South Korea has laid out one of the largest national bets on AI hardware yet, a coordinated 1.35 trillion won package, roughly $880 billion, to be spent over the next decade with the government acting as orchestrator rather than sole funder. The goal is to lock up an early lead in the physical layer of AI: chips, data centers, and robotics. Much of the money comes from the private sector. Samsung and SK Group are putting a combined $518 billion into four new chip fabs in the country's southwest, focused on the high-bandwidth memory that AI accelerators depend on, while Naver and others fund 8.4 gigawatts of new data-center capacity by 2029. The plan reflects a broader shift in how the AI race is being fought. As models commoditize, governments are competing over who controls the fabs, memory, and power that everything else runs on, and Korea is trying to turn its existing chip strength into durable leverage.

## Source

[Read the full story at GuruFocus](https://www.gurufocus.com/news/8935689/south-korea-unveils-880-billion-ai-and-chip-investment-push)

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