South Korean tech giants commit over $550B to ease ‘RAMageddon’
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- Samsung and SK Hynix are committing $518 billion (~800 trillion won) to build four new memory fabs in southwestern South Korea — a region that has historically attracted little semiconductor investment.
- The broader plan includes $52 billion for an HBM packaging hub in central South Korea and $356 billion for AI data centers to be built by SK, GS, and Naver through 2035.
- President Jae Myung Lee framed 2026 as the year South Korea becomes an "irreplaceable" industrial power, with total Korean tech investment in AI and chips now exceeding $900 billion.
- Samsung separately announced a 10-year, 2,655 trillion won (~$1.7 trillion) plan with 425 trillion won earmarked for the Honam region, including a new fab in Gwangju and an AI data center in Haenam.
- SK Group unveiled a 2,100 trillion won (~$1.4 trillion) roadmap: 1,100 trillion won for semiconductor production and 1,000 trillion won for AI data centers, with SK Telecom leading a 15-gigawatt data center buildout.
- Micron, the U.S. memory chipmaker, is also riding record demand from the global memory chip shortage dubbed "RAMageddon" — the same AI-driven shortfall South Korea's fab investments are targeting.
- South Korea's $900B+ total rivals the $650 billion that Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft will collectively spend on AI infrastructure this year alone.
Why it matters: South Korea's $900B+ commitment rivals the $650B that U.S. hyperscalers Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft will spend on AI infrastructure this year alone. The gamble: fabs take years to build, so South Korean companies risk oversupply and crashing prices if the AI-driven memory crunch peaks before production comes online.
